In contrast to our long-aging classic-style clarets, in 2021 we together created this lively young offering showcasing the New World at its best – brimming with cherry and blueberry aromas kissed by French oak. Its ample velvety tannins benefit from 2% each of Tannat and Malbec, which contribute to finesse and brightness.
Mike and Steve Heringer lead one of our favorite grower teams for a number of reasons. First, their vineyard is situated in the heart of Clarksburg, a remarkable AVA in the Sacramento River delta north of Lodi and cooled by marine air from the Golden Gate. Second, their fine-tuned organization is a joy to work and play with. Third, they are courageous experimenters from which we can source unusual varieties like Tannat and Norton.
Winemaking
Fermentation techniques: Anchor NT 112 yeast inoculum, 7.5 g.L Bois Frais Alliers chips, 14-day maceration
Elevage details: Four weeks microbüllage pre-ML, 20 months in neutral French oak
Delightfully drinkable now, its refined tannin structure promises further aging potential, perhaps a decade over which to acquire complexity.
We Smiths offer small lots of extraordinary hand-crafted wines which explore French winemaking traditions in California.
Clark Smith is an MIT drop-out who wandered out to California in 1972 and sold wine retail in the Bay Area for several years, where he acquired a love of Bordeaux, Burgundy, and all things French and observed firsthand the California winery explosion in the 1970s. After a three-year stint at Veedercrest Vineyards, he secured enology training at UC Davis and spent the 1980s as a founding winemaker for The R.H. Phillips Vineyard in Yolo County. In 1990, he founded WineSmith Consulting and patented a group of new winemaking techniques involving reverse osmosis, spinning off Vinovation, which went on to become the world’s largest wine production consulting firm over its 17-year history.
Frustrated with California’s winemaking trends, Clark started WineSmith Cellars in 1993 as a teaching winery to make Eurocentric wines to explore traditions beyond the mainstream, expanding for his winemaking clients the range of possibilities for California fruit. Choosing to create long-term partnerships with committed growers rather than growing his own grapes, Clark has become a renowned expert on Cabernet Franc, having vinified twenty vintages from a wide variety of sites.
Teaching at Napa Valley College gave him access to the Student Vineyard for Faux Chablis and his Pauillac-style $100 “Crucible” Cabernet Sauvignon. From Renaissance Vineyards in North Yuba County, he has made a sulfite-free Roman Syrah and also produces a Pinot Noir from Fiddlestix Vineyard in the Santa Rita Hills in a delicate, age-worthy Côtes de Beaune style. These wines are vinified in an ancient beat-up warehouse in Sebastopol, California.
WineSmith wines are noted for their longevity, classic balance, structural integrity, minerality, and understated soulfulness. They often are aged extensively prior to release. When drinking a WineSmith wine, always ask yourself “What is this wine trying to teach me?” Clark is a vocal advocate of living soil and graceful longevity, and generally avoids excessive oak, alcohol, or extended hang time. He is not shy about employing new tools when they are needed, such as alcohol adjustment to bring fruit into balance or micro-oxygenation to build refined structure, but always fully discloses techniques that are controversial and is outspoken in explaining his rationale.
His book, Postmodern Winemaking, is the culmination of four decades of reflection on wine’s true nature.
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KY, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NJ, NM, NY, NC, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY
Like all wineries, I had my ass handed to me in the pandemic when most of my restaurant and shop customers cancelled orders and often went out of business. Thus imagine my delight when in October of 2022, my custom crush host offered to buy a controlling share of WineSmith, pay my debts, open a tasting room and carry production costs going forward. Unfortunately, none of this actually happened. Thus I still have pretty much the entire inventory I had then.
Last year I lost patience and ask to unwind the deal, so now I am in the process of rebirthing the brand. Fortunately, I’ve always been committed to a very ageworthy style, so the wines are better than ever.
I’m eager to reconnect with my Casemates homies. You guys have understood what WineSmith is all about, swimming upstream against the trends of powerhouse prune juice and sparkling chocolate-flavored Cabernet in a can. I hope you will visit www.winesmithwines.com to explore my vast array of experimental wines in numbers too small ever to appear on Casemates. If you do, please take advantage of the promocode IKNOWCLARK for a 20% discount.
Let me share a few thoughts concerning the state of the wine industry for the small fry.
As you all know, wine consumption, after 26 years of unbridled growth, has dropped precipitously. What’s dropping is the nationally distributed cheaper wines that offer a pleasant buzz and little more. There are only 65 bonded wineries in the US that supply this market, for which many alternatives are now motoring up: craft beer and cider, hard seltzer, and of course, cannabis.
This isn’t my market. WineSmith wines aren’t selling a pleasant buzz. The selling proposition is more like music. My wines carry emotion and speak of place. They aren’t cheap, nor are they particularly thirst-quenching.
I personally think the decline in wine sales is a good thing. When consumption grows, the added people are consequently complete newbies, so they tend to skew demand towards simple, quaffable wines for instant consumption – the opposite of what I do. I make wine for geeks, for folks who have outgrown white Zinfandel, buttery Chardonnays, and overblown Cabernets, and might even have a cellar or closet to lay wines away. These are my people. A shrinking market means these are thicker on the ground.
Since I only make less than 2,000 cases, all I need is a fan base of 4,000 of these geeks that I can rely on to purchase an average of 6 bottles a year. Good riddance to the riff raff.
I hope you will want to be one of those people.
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: tax and shipping are not included in savings calculations.)
2021 WineSmith Heringer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon - $80 = 28.56%
I looked it up so my fellow Casemates friends don’t have to…
Micro-oxygenation (microbüllage) is a scientific and controlled method of introducing oxygen in the winemaking process which minimizes the astringent and bitter qualities of tannins. Micro-oxygenation does not reduce the level of tannin, but deliberately modifies them for a rounder and softer mouthfeel. Of the wines I sampled, this method was used in the Cabernet Franc, Norton, Meritage and Petit Manseng. I would describe the red wines of this group as having a velvety mouthfeel
I’m so thrilled to be back and involved with this community – and also flattered to be playing the Lab Rat for this wine.
I’ll start by saying that just after opening the bottle, I neglected to look at the cork and immediately tipped the bottle to half fill my glass. On first inspection, I noticed a little cloudiness that upon sipping, I realized that the wine had thrown some sediment on the cork that ended up in my glass. Ahh – this wine is unfiltered… so be aware that you may want to at a minimum, shake the bottle several hours before serving and allow to stand upright which will permit the sediment to settle at the bottom of the bottle – or – simply decant which will give the wine some air and help the wine open up.
You can’t go wrong with either approach. I will emphasize that I found nothing wrong with finding the sediment – just be aware that it exists. The rest of my notes have been written over two days. Between tastings, I stored the bottle in the fridge overnight – one of my standard protocols for preservation, especially when I’m evaluating wine (including my own!)
Visually, the wine has a deep inky purple color. Both Day 1 and Day 2 aroma notes were about the same and reflect an herbal characteristic with a hint of mint mixed with violets and under-ripe blackberry, black pepper and tobacco.
Upon sipping, the wine style was very much in tune with how I also make my cabs. Neutral oak aging preserved all of the flavors that come directly from the grapes. Velvety with resolved tannins, and balanced acidity will allow you to drink this wine now or lay it down for another year or two. My first impression on day one was flavors of cranberry, peppermint and sour cherry. On day two, the wine reflected more blackberry, leather, lavender and some rose notes.
What I like most about this wine is that it’s not over-ripe, a benefit of growing in the Sacramento Delta Region due to its proximity to the Delta, Sacramento River and the Elk Slough where this vineyard is adjacent and promotes nighttime cooling.
IMO – you can’t go wrong with this wine – I’ll be finishing it tonight with a venison chop. Enjoy - JP
@inspiration
Respectfully, I think I would have to disagree on how to handle a bottle with (known?) sediment. Even when taking one out of a cellar where it has long been stored horizontally, a week or so standing upright is not an uncommon practice to allow sediment to settle to the bottom, then taking care to not jostle the bottle when carefully decanting.
Not something you can do with a bottle just received after shipping…
@rjquillin Thanks for your input - I’ve found that it all depends. I understand what you’re saying - and in some cases, you’re absolutely correct. I’ve also found that in some cases, when a wine is older, the sediment becomes incorporated into tartrate crystals that may have formed, causing it to fall to the bottom of the bottle in a shorter period of time. And in the case of wanting to open the bottle right away, waiting a week may not work for everyone. This particular wine had heavy sediment and was relatively brilliant after I allowed it to sit overnight.
That said - you are correct - the longer the better when letting it sit upright and settle - and carefully decant when ready to enjoy.
@kaolis Here’s the deal… the wine had just been shipped and had been laying down, or it was also likely upside down (cork down) while it was stored. By giving it a good shake and letting it stand, the sediment and tartrates that would have formed on the cork, will now fall to the bottom of the bottle.
In my experience, doing this will give you the cleanest cork when you pull it from the bottle. You can also use a screen while you pour - or carefully decant. I didn’t have time to allow the bottle to settle after shipping - and by purposely shaking the bottle and standing it up, it behaves like a snow globe where everything has a chance to come together and settle to the bottom. If you have a few extra days after receiving the wine, then doing so will give you the cleanest pour.
More about the WineSmith Renaissance. Last July I bottled 14 new wines, including some I’ve never made before: a Sangiovese Elegante in a delicate but intricate Chianti Classico style, sort of the opposite of a big oafish Super Tuscan as well as a complex, ethereal Santa Cruz Mountain Pinot Noir from the exquisite Lester Family Vineyard in Corralitos. I added new vintages to my continuing programs for Tannat, Petit Verdot, Tempranillo, Bates Ranch Cab Sauv and Grenache and Grist Vineyard Zinfandel Classico. I’ll be setting up virtual tastings for these wines three at a time at special pricing. If you want to join my tribe, just whisper me your email and I’ll include you in the list for upcoming events.
More about micro-oxygenation. In 1997, I was approached by the French R&D company OenoDev concerning a technique developed by Madiran vigneron Patrick Ducournau in collaboration with phenolic chemist Michel Moutounet of U. Montpelier in an effort to tame the tannins of the local variety, Tannat.
They pitched the idea that tiny amounts of oxygen delivered with skill could stabilize color, eliminate reduction, integrate aromas from oak, microbial activity and vegetal notes, increase body, refine mouthfeel and enhance longevity. All we had to do was abandon everything we’d been taught in school.
We thought they were nuts. But there was interest, so we set up a 12-winery collaborative study over two years. We became true believers.
Discussing this technique and related topics such as vineyard enology, the seven functions of oak, harmony and astringency, and graceful aging became the central theme of my 2013 book, Postmodern Winemaking. The methodology is quite counterintuitive, and I do a lot of MOx coaching.
2021 WineSmith Cabernet Sauvignon, Heringer Vineyards, Clarksburg
Tasting Notes
Winemaking
Specs
What’s Included
3-bottles:
Case:
Price Comparison
Not for sale online, $480.00/case MSRP
About The Winery
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KY, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NJ, NM, NY, NC, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY
Estimated Delivery
Monday, Mar 16 - Tuesday, Mar 17
2021 WineSmith Heringer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon
3 bottles for $69.99 $23.33/bottle + $2.67/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $199.99 $16.67/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
Previous offer:
3/8/23
Like all wineries, I had my ass handed to me in the pandemic when most of my restaurant and shop customers cancelled orders and often went out of business. Thus imagine my delight when in October of 2022, my custom crush host offered to buy a controlling share of WineSmith, pay my debts, open a tasting room and carry production costs going forward. Unfortunately, none of this actually happened. Thus I still have pretty much the entire inventory I had then.
Last year I lost patience and ask to unwind the deal, so now I am in the process of rebirthing the brand. Fortunately, I’ve always been committed to a very ageworthy style, so the wines are better than ever.
I’m eager to reconnect with my Casemates homies. You guys have understood what WineSmith is all about, swimming upstream against the trends of powerhouse prune juice and sparkling chocolate-flavored Cabernet in a can. I hope you will visit www.winesmithwines.com to explore my vast array of experimental wines in numbers too small ever to appear on Casemates. If you do, please take advantage of the promocode IKNOWCLARK for a 20% discount.
@winesmith sorry to hear that your deal didn’t work out as you’d hoped, but I’m thrilled to see you and your wines back here. In for a case!
@winesmith
Indeed, welcome back, and hopefully on a recovery trajectory since now seemingly out of that dog house.
Hang in there Clark, the wine world needs your wonderful skills. Im in for a case.
Let me share a few thoughts concerning the state of the wine industry for the small fry.
As you all know, wine consumption, after 26 years of unbridled growth, has dropped precipitously. What’s dropping is the nationally distributed cheaper wines that offer a pleasant buzz and little more. There are only 65 bonded wineries in the US that supply this market, for which many alternatives are now motoring up: craft beer and cider, hard seltzer, and of course, cannabis.
This isn’t my market. WineSmith wines aren’t selling a pleasant buzz. The selling proposition is more like music. My wines carry emotion and speak of place. They aren’t cheap, nor are they particularly thirst-quenching.
I personally think the decline in wine sales is a good thing. When consumption grows, the added people are consequently complete newbies, so they tend to skew demand towards simple, quaffable wines for instant consumption – the opposite of what I do. I make wine for geeks, for folks who have outgrown white Zinfandel, buttery Chardonnays, and overblown Cabernets, and might even have a cellar or closet to lay wines away. These are my people. A shrinking market means these are thicker on the ground.
Since I only make less than 2,000 cases, all I need is a fan base of 4,000 of these geeks that I can rely on to purchase an average of 6 bottles a year. Good riddance to the riff raff.
I hope you will want to be one of those people.
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: tax and shipping are not included in savings calculations.)
2021 WineSmith Heringer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon - $80 = 28.56%
I looked it up so my fellow Casemates friends don’t have to…
Micro-oxygenation (microbüllage) is a scientific and controlled method of introducing oxygen in the winemaking process which minimizes the astringent and bitter qualities of tannins. Micro-oxygenation does not reduce the level of tannin, but deliberately modifies them for a rounder and softer mouthfeel. Of the wines I sampled, this method was used in the Cabernet Franc, Norton, Meritage and Petit Manseng. I would describe the red wines of this group as having a velvety mouthfeel
Being way overstocked, anyone in the Atlanta area want to split a case?
/image pickled-unsafe-whale
I’m so thrilled to be back and involved with this community – and also flattered to be playing the Lab Rat for this wine.
I’ll start by saying that just after opening the bottle, I neglected to look at the cork and immediately tipped the bottle to half fill my glass. On first inspection, I noticed a little cloudiness that upon sipping, I realized that the wine had thrown some sediment on the cork that ended up in my glass. Ahh – this wine is unfiltered… so be aware that you may want to at a minimum, shake the bottle several hours before serving and allow to stand upright which will permit the sediment to settle at the bottom of the bottle – or – simply decant which will give the wine some air and help the wine open up.
You can’t go wrong with either approach. I will emphasize that I found nothing wrong with finding the sediment – just be aware that it exists. The rest of my notes have been written over two days. Between tastings, I stored the bottle in the fridge overnight – one of my standard protocols for preservation, especially when I’m evaluating wine (including my own!)
Visually, the wine has a deep inky purple color. Both Day 1 and Day 2 aroma notes were about the same and reflect an herbal characteristic with a hint of mint mixed with violets and under-ripe blackberry, black pepper and tobacco.
Upon sipping, the wine style was very much in tune with how I also make my cabs. Neutral oak aging preserved all of the flavors that come directly from the grapes. Velvety with resolved tannins, and balanced acidity will allow you to drink this wine now or lay it down for another year or two. My first impression on day one was flavors of cranberry, peppermint and sour cherry. On day two, the wine reflected more blackberry, leather, lavender and some rose notes.
What I like most about this wine is that it’s not over-ripe, a benefit of growing in the Sacramento Delta Region due to its proximity to the Delta, Sacramento River and the Elk Slough where this vineyard is adjacent and promotes nighttime cooling.
IMO – you can’t go wrong with this wine – I’ll be finishing it tonight with a venison chop. Enjoy - JP
@inspiration
Respectfully, I think I would have to disagree on how to handle a bottle with (known?) sediment. Even when taking one out of a cellar where it has long been stored horizontally, a week or so standing upright is not an uncommon practice to allow sediment to settle to the bottom, then taking care to not jostle the bottle when carefully decanting.
Not something you can do with a bottle just received after shipping…
@rjquillin Thanks for your input - I’ve found that it all depends. I understand what you’re saying - and in some cases, you’re absolutely correct. I’ve also found that in some cases, when a wine is older, the sediment becomes incorporated into tartrate crystals that may have formed, causing it to fall to the bottom of the bottle in a shorter period of time. And in the case of wanting to open the bottle right away, waiting a week may not work for everyone. This particular wine had heavy sediment and was relatively brilliant after I allowed it to sit overnight.
That said - you are correct - the longer the better when letting it sit upright and settle - and carefully decant when ready to enjoy.
@inspiration @rjquillin I’m a bit confused, the last thing I would think of doing is shaking a bottle with known sediment
@kaolis Here’s the deal… the wine had just been shipped and had been laying down, or it was also likely upside down (cork down) while it was stored. By giving it a good shake and letting it stand, the sediment and tartrates that would have formed on the cork, will now fall to the bottom of the bottle.
In my experience, doing this will give you the cleanest cork when you pull it from the bottle. You can also use a screen while you pour - or carefully decant. I didn’t have time to allow the bottle to settle after shipping - and by purposely shaking the bottle and standing it up, it behaves like a snow globe where everything has a chance to come together and settle to the bottom. If you have a few extra days after receiving the wine, then doing so will give you the cleanest pour.
More about the WineSmith Renaissance. Last July I bottled 14 new wines, including some I’ve never made before: a Sangiovese Elegante in a delicate but intricate Chianti Classico style, sort of the opposite of a big oafish Super Tuscan as well as a complex, ethereal Santa Cruz Mountain Pinot Noir from the exquisite Lester Family Vineyard in Corralitos. I added new vintages to my continuing programs for Tannat, Petit Verdot, Tempranillo, Bates Ranch Cab Sauv and Grenache and Grist Vineyard Zinfandel Classico. I’ll be setting up virtual tastings for these wines three at a time at special pricing. If you want to join my tribe, just whisper me your email and I’ll include you in the list for upcoming events.
/giphy tight-willowy-oatmeal
More about micro-oxygenation. In 1997, I was approached by the French R&D company OenoDev concerning a technique developed by Madiran vigneron Patrick Ducournau in collaboration with phenolic chemist Michel Moutounet of U. Montpelier in an effort to tame the tannins of the local variety, Tannat.
They pitched the idea that tiny amounts of oxygen delivered with skill could stabilize color, eliminate reduction, integrate aromas from oak, microbial activity and vegetal notes, increase body, refine mouthfeel and enhance longevity. All we had to do was abandon everything we’d been taught in school.
We thought they were nuts. But there was interest, so we set up a 12-winery collaborative study over two years. We became true believers.
Discussing this technique and related topics such as vineyard enology, the seven functions of oak, harmony and astringency, and graceful aging became the central theme of my 2013 book, Postmodern Winemaking. The methodology is quite counterintuitive, and I do a lot of MOx coaching.
I’m full at the moment with a case arriving next week. Anybody in South Florida want to split a case with me?