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WineSmith: A customer profile
Our research shows the typical WineSmith customer is sophisticated, intelligent, and leery of unsolicited flattery. Data indicate the customer enjoys food, including breaded products. Savvy shopper and adequate dancer, particularly at weddings. The customer is able to communicate with most rodents. Our data indicate the customer is indifferent to the word "stagecoach."
Favorite soup is chicken-based in 75 percent of respondents.
According to our notes, the customer is likely to describe wine using terms like "tannins" or "fruit" and will probably refrain from the abstract or surreal ("This wine sure makes MY pony dance the bobo!").
Customer is likely to eat apples from the outside in. The customer is not a robot, but daydreams about becoming one. The customer is right to have those robot aspirations. It's what we all want. Because then we won't hurt any longer.
Features
2005 WineSmith “2nd Fiddle” Fiddlestix Vineyard Pinot Noir
Fiddlestix is a magical playground of differing sites and clonal selections, owned and farmed by Kathy Joseph. Clark Smith admires her wines and has wished for many years to do a Pinot project with her, having come to know her as a former UC Davis study partner who then went on to found the wonderful Fiddlehead Cellars brand in the early 1980’s. Later, she planted the Fiddlestix Vineyard in the famed Santa Rita Hills appellation of the cool central coast with a mélange of sexy scions.
Collaborations with Kathy and the ’05 Fiddlestix fruit were most enlightening. With the goal of creating a “complete” wine, WineSmith blended equal parts of Dijon clones 115, noted for tannin structure and cherry fruit, with Clone 667, from which comes perfume and spice. The cuvee was aged in neutral French oak barriques for nineteen months before bottling.
To make a wine of freshness, energy and integrity which would age well, WineSmith was fastidious to pick only mature, but not overripe fruit, with the resulting final alcohol at just 13.8%. Still dense and energetic, the Second Fiddle Pinot has begun to fulfill its promise. Please keep some in your cellar for 5 -10 more years to taste it at its very best.
2004 WineSmith Napa Valley Faux Chablis, Student Vineyard, Napa Valley College 750ml
The last year WineSmith tried to sell this stuff as Napa Valley Chardonnay was 2003. After that, they only sold it as “Faux Chablis.” The wine is a little denser than the 2003 and more minerally. The nose has not “bloomed” yet, and does not yet show the yeastiness or open fruit expression.
If the 2003 is a flower in full bloom, this is still a bud. In the mouth there is an edge of steely hardness that needs time to soften. Winemaker Clark Smith cannot see it covering the distance to where the 2003 is in just one year; it probably needs around three years to open completely. Still, it has its uses today. It’s wonderful with half-shell oysters or sashimi, and it cuts into Thai food with vigor and mirth.
"I don’t like what California Chardonnay has become. Indeed, in California-based competitions, my fellow judges often trim from the pack (as “atypical”) all but the fat shallow buttery toast bombs they have resigned themselves to expect.
In homage to the true Chablis of Bourgogne, our Napa knock-off imitates its lemon blossom aromas, firm structure, and mineral depth. The living soil Steve Krebs maintains in this beautifully balanced vineyard imparts to the finish a mineral electricity rarely seen in California whites. Bâtonnage sur lies and restrained use of well-seasoned oak impart rich structure, aromatic complexity and reductive strength that invite a few years’ cellaring. This wine can be expected to gain aromatic openness and mid-palate richness over the next few years and should be a reasonable candidate for extended cellaring.
Misappropriation of European place names is particularly disgraceful when used to embellish wines of low stature and unsuitable style. Our French friends find wry humor in America’s only pure-Chardonnay 'chablis'."
- Clark Smith, winemaker
2008 WineSmith Cabernet Franc, Lake County 750ml
The father of Cabernet Sauvignon, this grape is among the most challenging to work with and seldom is bottled as a pure varietal. Its great vigor requires bright sunlight and a limiting soil to prevent excessive fruit shading, but its delicate aromas will also easily burn off. Diamond Ridge is located in a sunny high altitude site with rocky granitic soils which force Cabernet Franc to put its energy into pushing its roots down into the rock, resulting in a lively mineral energy in the wine’s finish. These conditions develop good color and firm but refined tannins which impart amazing age-worthiness.
Because of its proximity to Clear Lake, the site is also blessed with a “lake effect” -- a daily visit from the cooling breezes off this deep body of water, largest in the State. The consequence is that the plum and cinnamon aromas the grape develops are conserved. The combination of rich fruit aromatics, firm tannin structure and lively minerality make this among the most complete and collectible expressions of Cabernet Franc in the New World.
The 2008 was harvested on October 16, fermented traditionally with extended maceration, and aged in neutral cooperage for 61 months to resolve its incredible reductive strength. Age has added a cedar bouquet to its spicy grenadine and rosemary aromas. For roundness and flesh, we blended in 6% of our 2010 Petite Sirah. The resulting palate possesses a sweet core of fruit which is framed by substantial tannins and a bright mineral finish. Although suitable for current consumption with pork and cherries or grilled duck breast, this is really a collector’s wine which will benefit substantially from a few years in the cellar.
Specs
Winery Retail Price: $120.00
Average Shipping: $25.00
Woot Shipping: (-$8.00)
Total MSRP: $137.00
2005 WineSmith “2nd Fiddle” Fiddlestix Vineyard Pinot Noir
- Vineyard Location: Fiddlestix Vineyard, Santa Rita Hills
- 50% Clone 115, 50% Clone 667
- Harvest Date: 25 September 2005
- Harvest Sugar: 25.6 Brix
- Fermentation techniques:
- NT 112 yeast, S. African cerevisiae/bayanus cross
- Co-fermentation w/ 1% ultrafiltrate cofactor
- Elevage details:
- Malolactic fermentation in barrel
- Neutral French oak aged 19 months
- Alcohol adjusted via recombinatory distillation of reverse osmosis permeate to “sweet spot” at 13.8 %
- TA 5.9 g/L at bottling
- pH 3.76 at bottling
- Production: 138 cases
2004 WineSmith Napa Valley Faux Chablis, Student Vineyard, Napa Valley College 750ml
- Vineyard Location: Student Vineyard, Napa Valley College (south Napa town)
- Harvest Date: 29 September 2004
- Harvest Sugar: 24.8 Brix
Fermentation techniques:
- Prise de Mousse yeast
- Fermentation on untoasted Alliers oak
Elevage details:
- Malolactic fermentation suppressed
- Weekly bâtonnage six months
- Alcohol adjusted via recombinatory
- distillation of reverse osmosis permeate
- to “sweet spot” at 12.9 %
- TA 6.8 g/L, pH 3.48 at bottling
- Production: 168 cases
- Alcohol: 12.9%
2008 WineSmith Cabernet Franc, Lake County 750ml
94% Cabernet Franc Clone 1
- Diamond Ridge Vineyards, Clear Lake AVA
- Harvested 16 October
- 25.6 Brix
6% Petite Sirah
- Diamond Ridge Vineyards, Clear Lake AVA
- Harvested 24 October 2010
- 26.4 Brix
Fermentation techniques:
- Water addition to 25 brix
- Anchor NT112 yeast
- 5 g/L untoasted Alliers chips
- 32-day maceration
Elevage details:
- Three weeks microbüllage pre ML
- 61 months in neutral French oak
- Alcohol sweet spot at 14.1%
- pH 3.76 at bottling
- Alcohol: 14.1%
-
Production: 147 Cases
Specs
Winery Retail Price: $120.00
Average Shipping: $25.00
Woot Shipping: (-$8.00)
Total MSRP: $137.00
2005 WineSmith “2nd Fiddle” Fiddlestix Vineyard Pinot Noir
- Vineyard Location: Fiddlestix Vineyard, Santa Rita Hills
- 50% Clone 115, 50% Clone 667
- Harvest Date: 25 September 2005
- Harvest Sugar: 25.6 Brix
- Fermentation techniques:
- NT 112 yeast, S. African cerevisiae/bayanus cross
- Co-fermentation w/ 1% ultrafiltrate cofactor
- Elevage details:
- Malolactic fermentation in barrel
- Neutral French oak aged 19 months
- Alcohol adjusted via recombinatory distillation of reverse osmosis permeate to “sweet spot” at 13.8 %
- TA 5.9 g/L at bottling
- pH 3.76 at bottling
- Production: 138 cases
2004 WineSmith Napa Valley Faux Chablis, Student Vineyard, Napa Valley College 750ml
- Vineyard Location: Student Vineyard, Napa Valley College (south Napa town)
- Harvest Date: 29 September 2004
- Harvest Sugar: 24.8 Brix
Fermentation techniques:
- Prise de Mousse yeast
- Fermentation on untoasted Alliers oak
Elevage details:
- Malolactic fermentation suppressed
- Weekly bâtonnage six months
- Alcohol adjusted via recombinatory
- distillation of reverse osmosis permeate
- to “sweet spot” at 12.9 %
- TA 6.8 g/L, pH 3.48 at bottling
- Production: 168 cases
- Alcohol: 12.9%
2008 WineSmith Cabernet Franc, Lake County 750ml
94% Cabernet Franc Clone 1
- Diamond Ridge Vineyards, Clear Lake AVA
- Harvested 16 October
- 25.6 Brix
6% Petite Sirah
- Diamond Ridge Vineyards, Clear Lake AVA
- Harvested 24 October 2010
- 26.4 Brix
Fermentation techniques:
- Water addition to 25 brix
- Anchor NT112 yeast
- 5 g/L untoasted Alliers chips
- 32-day maceration
Elevage details:
- Three weeks microbüllage pre ML
- 61 months in neutral French oak
- Alcohol sweet spot at 14.1%
- pH 3.76 at bottling
- Alcohol: 14.1%
-
Production: 147 Cases
Vendor Details
WineSmith Cellars
- Owner:
- Clark Smith
- Founded:
- 1993
- Location:
- Sebastopol, CA
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 first hand 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 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 possibility for California fruit. Choosing to create long-term partnerships with committed growers rather than growing his own grapes, Clark has become an 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 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 which 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.
Sales Stats
- Speed to First Woot:
- 16m 37.660s
Purchaser Experience
Purchaser Seniority
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