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.
@chipgreen@kaolis@rjquillin I wasn’t going to say that… lol… but I will say that I’ve done this for some of my wines for both purposes… however that said, if I know that I’m dealing with sediment, then as I said up top, I allow it to settle for an hour or two. It’s amazing how much the wine opens up and I loved their video!
@chipgreen@inspiration@kaolis@rjquillin
Greatly enjoying this discussion. Question
for your consideration. When a wine does have sediment, do you find using a coffee filter of more benefit or detriment compared to cheesecloth? Just wondering if the filter messes with the wine. Also, type of filter? Bleached or brown?
Enjoy reading these type of off-shoot discussions that impact many offerings here. I
know from firsthand experience that sediment and “purple diamonds” were Peter W’s calling cards.
@chipgreen@inspiration@kaolis
but the exchange still made me think of this, the video clip. There is a wine think here in SD and they, MD, were hear. Didn’t really have a good response to that question.
@chipgreen - from my experience, there are two types of sediment that we’re dealing with. Very fine sediment, and sediment that happens from aging where (especially for reds) the wine chills enough to also cause tartrates to fall out.
I differentiate this because I’ve never been a fan of using anything other than a simple mesh filter for wine if you’re worried about a glass full of chunks and large particle sediment.
Long story short - I had a client within the last month come up to me and show me pictures of the sediment that his wine is throwing… he was about to blame someone else that worked for me… and I looked at it and said that what he was looking at was mostly tannins that titrated out of the wine because it became too cold. I don’t believe in cold stabilization of red wines… period… so what he was looking at was sediment that also titrated with tartrates - a simple mesh screen when pouring, or using something like a Haley’s Corker that can aerate and pour at the same time would address this… no problem… it’s ALL cosmetic - and sensory - there is NOTHING wrong with the wine…
Then there is very fine lees - if you don’t rack your wine at the right time - or maybe you only do a very light racking once, you’ll end up with these very fine lees in your wine. The solution there is to carefully decant.
I just don’t like using coffee filters at this point. I don’t like paper coming in contact with the wine. I’d rather have just a little sediment, then deal with what I pick up from paper.
Coffee has a TON of tannin and other strong flavors that can mask that “paper” taste…
OK - that said - I’ve never done this, so maybe I should. BLIND taste. Have someone help you with a trial and see for yourself if a coffee filter will create an undesirable flavor component to the wine. I would use both the un-bleached and bleached versions and try all three wines together. Have the person that’s helping you mix 4 glasses all around… you would be trying 2 that are un changed and 2 that went through the coffee filter… and report back!
@chipgreen@inspiration@kaolis@rjquillin
Lol! Grind the sediment up until it becomes juice in my experience I would never shake it up and drink in a couple of hours, three or four days standing up at a minimum and a careful decant. But what do I know I’m not a winemaker just a wine drinker.
@inspiration I’m gauche. When there’s sediment on the cork, I just twist a paper towel into a doobie form factor and carefully get what I can off the neck of the bottle. The main trick is not to quaff the last sip as the onslaught of sediment literally “wastes the flavor”.
I was already in, but your tasting notes at the end make me feel even better about the decision.
@chipgreen@inspiration@kaolis@rjquillin@shrimp74 The shoulder of a Bordeaux bottle is there for a reason. As you approach the last pour slowly rotate the bottle as you are pouring (slowly) and the sediment will gather on the walls of the bottle in the shoulder and voilá, no sediment.
Also avoid drinking sediment in your glass by slowly rotating while you enjoy the last ounce or so. Same concept the wine flows and most all of the sediment gets stuck to the side of your glass.
@chipgreen@inspiration@SelfGovern I’ve actually been taught to wet the filter before brewing to prevent the “paper flavor” from imparting to the coffee (although I prefer coffee bold enough that it likely would be indiscernible)
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.
@karenhynes Hi Karen. This is from my favorite Santa Cruz Mountain vineyard, the Lester Family Estate near Corralitos. It always delivers a magical spicy energy I find in no other California vineyard. Usually the wines are quite reductive in youth and require several years in barrel and bottle for their hard tannins to resolve.
In 2022 however, the first four days of September hit the area with 115 degrees F, an onslaught which this very cool spot was unprepared to withstand. As a result, we have a delicate, aromatically dream-like, feather-light vessel without any structure that’s a great joy to drink now but with dubious aging potential.
@karenhynes No, there’s not enough. But I do intend to include it in a discounted victual tasting pack. Whisper me your email and I ll put you on the mailing list.
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.
@drgonzo99 Certainly. I’ve proposed to run my '18 St. Laurent later on this spring and then a SCM Grenache four-vintage vertical on International Grenache Day in mid-September.
Appearance: youthful bright red with tinges of violet. Some sediment on the cork, a good sign that this wine wasn’t over manipulated.
Aroma: Lots of nice fruit right from the get go. I get lots of cherry, with cassis and blackberry. The fruit aromas are more fresh than jammy. There isn’t much of the common Cabernet herbaceous character here, yet this wine also manages to avoid any raisiny or overripe aromas.
Cherry and blackberry like aromas still dominate after time and air, but the wine shows some complexity. There are hints of tar and leather, and the subtle oak shows as vanilla and dill.
Additional aeration and time brings out notes of chocolate, brown sugar, and jammy blackberry.
Palate: There’s a bright, fruity entry. Crisp acidity and medium body leave a fresh impression. The tannin structure is very fine, with very low astringency and bitterness. The tart cherry fruit persists through to the finish. There’s sweetness from the alcohol that balances the acid on the finish, but it still leaves a slightly tart aftertaste.
Conclusions: I’m impressed. As a coastal chauvinist (imho a lot of the Napa Valley is warmer than ideal) I’ve never held Central Valley wines in high esteem, even those from Lodi and the Sacramento River delta. To my palate, those wines are often overripe and lacking in depth and character, in short - insipid.
Clark fully succeeded with the most important decision a winemaker makes each year. He nailed the harvest date(s), getting great fruit character while avoiding both greenness and overripeness. Clark is a master at working with tannins, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this wine had some harsh tannins in its youth that have been tamed with controlled doses of oxygen.
This wine is really enjoyable now, with absolutely no need for additional aging. It isn’t the type of big, tannic Cab people might lean toward with some meals, but the soft tannins and low herbaceousness certainly suit it well for a wide variety of cuisine. Given the slightly tart finish I believe this Cab is better suited for the dinner table than as a stand alone.
This wine won’t fall apart before the end of year or anything like that, but it’s ready to drink now, and it probably won’t gain a lot with extended aging. Based on the color and the tartness, I would guess that this wine does not have a particularly low pH, which is the principal factor in wine ageability. Orson Welles said (for Paul Masson), “We will sell no wine before its time.” For the Herringer Vineyard Cab, it’s its time.
@PeterW Thanks Peter!
And some of what you discuss above is why I’ve found I enjoyed your Mohrhart Ridge Cab the most of the trio. While obviously none of your wines were ever insipid or anything like that, I always liked that those were a little more lean and acidic.
@cb3500blue depends on the state, I’ve shipped to four different states, and some states I get hit with tax, and some not, now if you are still shipping to same state, I betting your state, changed their tax laws.
Oh, no! Missed this by just a few minutes! Anyone from the Twin Cities interested in splitting a case? Any way to still order? Wish there was another day to order for the chronically late…
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.
@winesmith consider random mixed case on casemates to clear out your storage and rain goodness on us
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.
@winesmith this comment here sold me. In for a case, and looking forward to it!
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?
/giphy 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.
@inspiration @kaolis
@inspiration @kaolis @rjquillin
I think the Molly Dooker shake is more about in-bottle aeration, than managing sediment.
@chipgreen @kaolis @rjquillin I wasn’t going to say that… lol… but I will say that I’ve done this for some of my wines for both purposes… however that said, if I know that I’m dealing with sediment, then as I said up top, I allow it to settle for an hour or two. It’s amazing how much the wine opens up and I loved their video!
@chipgreen @inspiration @rjquillin F*ck it… just put it in a blender and be done with it ha!
@chipgreen @inspiration @kaolis @rjquillin
Greatly enjoying this discussion. Question
for your consideration. When a wine does have sediment, do you find using a coffee filter of more benefit or detriment compared to cheesecloth? Just wondering if the filter messes with the wine. Also, type of filter? Bleached or brown?
Enjoy reading these type of off-shoot discussions that impact many offerings here. I
know from firsthand experience that sediment and “purple diamonds” were Peter W’s calling cards.
Miss those offerings. So much…
@chipgreen @inspiration @kaolis
but the exchange still made me think of this, the video clip. There is a wine think here in SD and they, MD, were hear. Didn’t really have a good response to that question.
@chipgreen - from my experience, there are two types of sediment that we’re dealing with. Very fine sediment, and sediment that happens from aging where (especially for reds) the wine chills enough to also cause tartrates to fall out.
I differentiate this because I’ve never been a fan of using anything other than a simple mesh filter for wine if you’re worried about a glass full of chunks and large particle sediment.
Long story short - I had a client within the last month come up to me and show me pictures of the sediment that his wine is throwing… he was about to blame someone else that worked for me… and I looked at it and said that what he was looking at was mostly tannins that titrated out of the wine because it became too cold. I don’t believe in cold stabilization of red wines… period… so what he was looking at was sediment that also titrated with tartrates - a simple mesh screen when pouring, or using something like a Haley’s Corker that can aerate and pour at the same time would address this… no problem… it’s ALL cosmetic - and sensory - there is NOTHING wrong with the wine…
Then there is very fine lees - if you don’t rack your wine at the right time - or maybe you only do a very light racking once, you’ll end up with these very fine lees in your wine. The solution there is to carefully decant.
I just don’t like using coffee filters at this point. I don’t like paper coming in contact with the wine. I’d rather have just a little sediment, then deal with what I pick up from paper.
Coffee has a TON of tannin and other strong flavors that can mask that “paper” taste…
OK - that said - I’ve never done this, so maybe I should. BLIND taste. Have someone help you with a trial and see for yourself if a coffee filter will create an undesirable flavor component to the wine. I would use both the un-bleached and bleached versions and try all three wines together. Have the person that’s helping you mix 4 glasses all around… you would be trying 2 that are un changed and 2 that went through the coffee filter… and report back!
@chipgreen @inspiration @kaolis @rjquillin
in my experience I would never shake it up and drink in a couple of hours, three or four days standing up at a minimum and a careful decant. But what do I know I’m not a winemaker just a wine drinker.
Lol! Grind the sediment up until it becomes juice
@chipgreen @inspiration
This is a great idea! Challenge accepted.
@chipgreen @inspiration @kaolis @ScottW58
And you’re a absolute teetotaler as well, never pulling a cork! Ha!
@inspiration I’m gauche. When there’s sediment on the cork, I just twist a paper towel into a doobie form factor and carefully get what I can off the neck of the bottle. The main trick is not to quaff the last sip as the onslaught of sediment literally “wastes the flavor”.
I was already in, but your tasting notes at the end make me feel even better about the decision.
@chipgreen @inspiration Even try water through the coffee filter and water straight from the bottle or tap.
@chipgreen @inspiration @kaolis @rjquillin @shrimp74 The shoulder of a Bordeaux bottle is there for a reason. As you approach the last pour slowly rotate the bottle as you are pouring (slowly) and the sediment will gather on the walls of the bottle in the shoulder and voilá, no sediment.
Also avoid drinking sediment in your glass by slowly rotating while you enjoy the last ounce or so. Same concept the wine flows and most all of the sediment gets stuck to the side of your glass.
@chipgreen @inspiration @SelfGovern I’ve actually been taught to wet the filter before brewing to prevent the “paper flavor” from imparting to the coffee (although I prefer coffee bold enough that it likely would be indiscernible)
@chipgreen @inspiration @kaolis @rjquillin @shrimp74 @smoothie72 If you want to go foll on Bordeaux style you could also hold a candle up to the neck to make sure you can see if sediment starts flowing out.
@chipgreen @inspiration @kaolis @klezman @shrimp74 @smoothie72
I just use a flashlight, a bright one.
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.
@winesmith
Tell me more about the ethereal Pinot noir.
@karenhynes Hi Karen. This is from my favorite Santa Cruz Mountain vineyard, the Lester Family Estate near Corralitos. It always delivers a magical spicy energy I find in no other California vineyard. Usually the wines are quite reductive in youth and require several years in barrel and bottle for their hard tannins to resolve.
In 2022 however, the first four days of September hit the area with 115 degrees F, an onslaught which this very cool spot was unprepared to withstand. As a result, we have a delicate, aromatically dream-like, feather-light vessel without any structure that’s a great joy to drink now but with dubious aging potential.
@winesmith
Sounds like this is in my wheelhouse! Will it eventually make an appearance here?
@karenhynes No, there’s not enough. But I do intend to include it in a discounted victual tasting pack. Whisper me your email and I ll put you on the mailing list.
/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?
@GatorFL I’m in Martin County, won’t be home the week of estimated delivery and in same boat of full cellar. So yes to split if we can work out deets.
@kaylagrrl Hi, I am VMP so no shipping costs. Can you meet up in Jupiter area?
@GatorFL yes! However, not until after March 23
Email me kaylagrrl@hotmail.com
@kaylagrrl Email sent, case ordered.
@GatorFL @kaylagrrl love this collaboration!
In for a case. Greetings from Vt., Clark- good to see you back, and hope they’ll be more in the future.
@drgonzo99 Certainly. I’ve proposed to run my '18 St. Laurent later on this spring and then a SCM Grenache four-vintage vertical on International Grenache Day in mid-September.
LabROUS (Rodent of Unusual Size) reporting
WineSmith 2021 Heringer Vineyard Cabernet sauvignon, Clarksburg
Appearance: youthful bright red with tinges of violet. Some sediment on the cork, a good sign that this wine wasn’t over manipulated.
Aroma: Lots of nice fruit right from the get go. I get lots of cherry, with cassis and blackberry. The fruit aromas are more fresh than jammy. There isn’t much of the common Cabernet herbaceous character here, yet this wine also manages to avoid any raisiny or overripe aromas.
Cherry and blackberry like aromas still dominate after time and air, but the wine shows some complexity. There are hints of tar and leather, and the subtle oak shows as vanilla and dill.
Additional aeration and time brings out notes of chocolate, brown sugar, and jammy blackberry.
Palate: There’s a bright, fruity entry. Crisp acidity and medium body leave a fresh impression. The tannin structure is very fine, with very low astringency and bitterness. The tart cherry fruit persists through to the finish. There’s sweetness from the alcohol that balances the acid on the finish, but it still leaves a slightly tart aftertaste.
Conclusions: I’m impressed. As a coastal chauvinist (imho a lot of the Napa Valley is warmer than ideal) I’ve never held Central Valley wines in high esteem, even those from Lodi and the Sacramento River delta. To my palate, those wines are often overripe and lacking in depth and character, in short - insipid.
Clark fully succeeded with the most important decision a winemaker makes each year. He nailed the harvest date(s), getting great fruit character while avoiding both greenness and overripeness. Clark is a master at working with tannins, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this wine had some harsh tannins in its youth that have been tamed with controlled doses of oxygen.
This wine is really enjoyable now, with absolutely no need for additional aging. It isn’t the type of big, tannic Cab people might lean toward with some meals, but the soft tannins and low herbaceousness certainly suit it well for a wide variety of cuisine. Given the slightly tart finish I believe this Cab is better suited for the dinner table than as a stand alone.
This wine won’t fall apart before the end of year or anything like that, but it’s ready to drink now, and it probably won’t gain a lot with extended aging. Based on the color and the tartness, I would guess that this wine does not have a particularly low pH, which is the principal factor in wine ageability. Orson Welles said (for Paul Masson), “We will sell no wine before its time.” For the Herringer Vineyard Cab, it’s its time.
@PeterW Great Caesar’s Ghost! So good to “see” you here (and probably inspiring some Wellington Wednesdays)!
@PeterW Thanks Peter!
And some of what you discuss above is why I’ve found I enjoyed your Mohrhart Ridge Cab the most of the trio. While obviously none of your wines were ever insipid or anything like that, I always liked that those were a little more lean and acidic.
@PeterW I just drank my last Wellington over the holidays. A Victory. Sad but delicious event. Miss you.
/giphy facetious-disturbed-coriander
/giphy tawny-joyful-body
Welcome back, Clark!
I don’t, don’t have any room - but WineSmith…
I don’t recall being charged tax in the past, is this something new?
@cb3500blue depends on the state, I’ve shipped to four different states, and some states I get hit with tax, and some not, now if you are still shipping to same state, I betting your state, changed their tax laws.
/giphy affordable-buttered-ham
Loved Peter’s labrat report. I’m in.
Cheers,
Scott
@ScottHarveyWine if Scott Harvey is in who am I to say no?
Got my case! Also, I love seeing so many of the old Wine.Woot folks commenting here.
/giphy manifold-jolly-vest
Glad to see Clark back. Splitting a case.
/giphy mostly-moping-wing
Anyone near Minneapolis want to split a case?
@dmischke99 Did you happen to place an order? Would be happy to split a case.
Bottles available in SD/SoCal
/giphy distracted-moldy-actor
/giphy bodacious-ratty-venus
Do I have a surprise coming soon?
Happy Birthday to me!
/giphy yellow-pressed-wound
Oh, no! Missed this by just a few minutes! Anyone from the Twin Cities interested in splitting a case? Any way to still order? Wish there was another day to order for the chronically late…