BARREL We don't own any barrels less that 20 years old. We love what long aging in neutral barrels does for complexity but hate the unpredictable, aggressive flavors of new oak and abhor the practice of cutting down 200-year-old trees. We want our barrels to outlive us. If we want to impart oaky nuances, we use carefully crafted chips. So shoot me.
Cork Closures We believe that natural cork is the best closure for ageworthy wines. Our advanced QC methodology assures that tainted wine is rare.
GRAPES We Smiths explore skillfully crafted experimental wines that explore traditions beyond the mainstream. We delight in working with little-known varieties made in a balanced, ageworthy Eurocentric style.
BOTTLE WineSmith wines employ élevage techniques we learned in southern France. Our method is to create wines of good structural integrity that integrates aromas. Profundity is achieved through the action of a complex microbiome over years in bottle. Thus we never fine or filter our reds.
Sensory Properties We strive for grace and balance and avoid flashy "impact wines." Our wines are generally low in alcohol, often aromatically closed when young, and fruit-centered rather than fruit-forward. Oak is never apparent. Cellaring is rewarded by development of soulful profundity.
I’ve been in the wine business since 1972 when I dropped out of MIT and got a job in an Oakland, California wine shop. I completed the BS and MS programs at UC Davis, built R.H. Phillips in the ’90s, and founded Vinovation in 1992, providing high tech services and consulting for over a thousand wineries, originally centered around the reverse osmosis VA and alcohol adjustment techniques I invented.
In 1984 I began teaching a short course at UC Davis called Fundamentals of Wine Chemistry, which continued for 24 years and was one of their most popular courses, attended by everyone from home winemakers to seasoned professionals. In the early ’90s, I began to see cracks in the theories I’d been taught at school and began to focus on French winemaking aesthetics and techniques. I felt I was making really good white wines and terrible reds, and this led me on a journey to rediscover what red wine itself actually is.
Here is an introduction to Clark Smith’s winemaking philosophy and the path that led him to write about it in Postmodern Winemaking, Wine & Spirits Magazine’s 2013 Book of the Year. He seeks to end the bad marriage between wine makers and wine lovers through honest dialogue, dismissing the attacks of the natural wine movement as ill informed and destructive to wine education. Clark lists the guiding principles of the WineSmith project and what consumers can count on.
It really is like no other wine. You will find extremely dense, soft tannins supporting generous mulberry fruit which you might easily mistake for Gamay Noir except for its lingering basil aftertaste that reminds me of Carmenère.
This crazy grape produces a Sauternes-style dessert wine in southern France in the regions of Jurançon and Pecherenc du Vic Bilh, a white wine appellation superimposed on Madiran, where I received my tutelage in postmodern winemaking techniques from my guru, Patrick Ducournau.
I had the privilege of pouring the 2014 wine at the reception of my wedding, attended by many winemakers who attested that this is one of the best sparkling wines they had ever encountered.
Petit Verdot is the ink of Bordeaux. Though an essential element of their blends, rarely is it employed at more than 2%. At this level, it imparts lush, refined tannins without overpowering the blend. At higher proportions, it obscures complexity and nuance, offering little aromatic interest of its own.
This result is indescribably delicious. Intense raspberries with oak toast accents lead to explosive fruit in the mouth, stylish texture and a long, minerally finish unmarred by alcohol. You just want to hug yourself.
Ibo Tejada is a sort of buddha – fun to be around. His deep roots in the culture of his native Spain inform his choices as a man of the Earth. It requires great attention to detail to grow grapes of this quality organically, and he is committed to fine-tuning his few acres nestled in a mountain glen.