Engracia Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir 4-Pack
$94.99 $160.00 41% off List Price
2013 Pinot Noir “Silva Vineyard”, Sonoma Coast
Anyone will tell you that Mike Faulk is a fine fellow. He has been my strong right hand at WineSmith Consulting for the last three years, learning the ropes as a winemaking consultant, including the intricacies of vineyard tending, grape quality assessment, fermentation kinetics, wine chemistry, winery design, compliance, label design, website layout, and the grueling challenges of branding, marketing and selling.
Many of you have had the privilege of his samurai commitment to customer service – whenever I get asked a tough question, the answer is always “Call Mike at 954-295-8944.”
He serves as the Assistant Winemaker for WineSmith and is a talented journeyman winemaker (excuse me, Mike - I meant to say wine parent) in his own right. He is intimately familiar with this Cotati vineyard, having made a few barrels from it over the last ten vintages before going commercial this year. In his first two competitions, he garnered a Gold Medal at the Sonoma Harvest Fair for his dialed-back, fruit-centered Chardonnay and a Silver at the highly competitive SF Chronicle tasting for this delicate, ethereal Pinot Noir, quite an accomplishment in the post-Sideways era when so many Pinots are artificially muscled up.
Personally, I think he’s crazy to be cutting this already underpriced Pinot to the bone, but I guess he needs cash (we’ve all been there) and there’s no audience more deserving that wootdom. I would consider it a great personal favor if you guys could hit his first woot offer out of the park.
Oh, and feel free to grill his little ass off like you do me. He’s no dummy and has a lot to say about both technical and philosophical issues we all wrestle with. Be sure to check out his moving commentary about the nature of wine in the the Winery tab of the offering.
Nice to see the support from Clark. By the time I read it, I’d already clicked the buy button. SWMBO loves Pinot.
We’re Pinot lovers here, and quite enjoyed a barrel sample Mike brought to the 2014 Tour final dinner. Makes this a no-brainer at this price.
I have to agree with Clark that Mike’s Pinot is already underpriced at retail. This is a screaming deal…
[winenotes]
2013 Engracia Pinot Noir
PnP: Very light ruby color in the glass. Nose is jumping out of the glass right away with dense strawberry, floral, a hint of sea air, and a touch of earth. The palate has an soft entry with notes of strawberry and cherry, which gains intensity as it hit the mid palate with mouthwatering acidity. The finish is medium plus with lingering notes of violet, a bit of white pepper, and a great tobacco note. This is drinking beautifully out of the gate, but I’ll give it some time and come back.
30 minutes: The fruit is now leaning more strawberry. The term elegant keeps coming to mind as this Pinot is silky smooth. Starting to pick up more complexity on the mid palate and finish as notes of tobacco and earth become more pronounced.
1.5 hrs: Nose is still quite floral with a touch of salinity. Definitely burgundian in style. Very balanced. Finish is now 30+ seconds and we are savoring every sip. This wine is so good…
Bottom line: Buy it even if you don’t have room!
I gassed the bottle and saved a glass for tomorrow so that I can revisit.
Mike’s wines are the real deal. This is an awesome chance for the woot community to get in on the ground floor of what is sure to be a long and successfully winemaking career.
I have enjoyed previous vintages of Engracia Pinot Noir and am looking forward to drinking these. Mike has learned from the best (Hi Clark!) and it shows in the quality of his PN juice. Restrained style with tart fruit and vibrant acidity. Very food friendly but also great on its own.
Welcome, Mike - congrats on your first wine.woot offer!
Wow, you guys are fast.
Clark,
Thank you for the kind words. I am happy to share Engracia With the Woot community. It’s great to participate with you all
A terrific description. I love the mentions of sea air and tobacco nuances that give this dream-like, silky Cotes de Beaune style dimensionality and sexiness beyond the obvious strawberry fruit and violet perfume.
It’s important to understand that despite their femininity and leaness, such wines have remarkable staying power. We don’t understand the chemistry, but our oxidation research clearly shows that Pinots like this have got something going for them we don’t understand. Why does my Second Fiddle 2005 Pinot have the same remarkable oxygen appetite as my 2005 Crucible Cabernet Sauvignon (which has twenty times the tannin)?
My point is that this wine is not just something to enjoy now. It’s a long-term experiment in Pinot’s unfathomable mystery. That’s why (if you have decent temperature control in your cellar), you need to buy three, not one.
Trifecata, I couln’t say it better myself,
I have been playing around with the term: Cali-Eurocentric. Fruit like a California wine but earthiness and austerity like a European wine.
This wine has developed complexity in the bottle. At first, is was racy. Kind of like a teenager on its way to college, not sure what it wanted to be, I feel like it has chosen a path that I am proud of
People: Mike is on the shy side. This won’t do. He has so much to say. Egg him on, please.
Mike,
Tell them about Manuel Silva - a fascinating mentor in so many ways.
Tell them about Engracia.
Tell them about your view of wine parentage.
Tell them about the rabbits…
Darn close to spot on with my observations (kind of scary). I really enjoyed this pinot with some 6 year aged gouda then followed with a dinner featuring medium rare leg of lamb. This pinot paired extremely well with both. Will have more fun tomorrow when we open another bottle of Mikes 2013 pinot to compare (blind) with two other vintages from Burgundy. Great family fun on Valentines day!
The rabbits…?
DDeuddeg,
Glad to hear you picked some up. If you are ever in the Sonoma / Napa area, please feel free t contact me. Clark and I will host you to an unforgettable tasting experience. 
Ok, Here we go…
1.) Tell them about Manuel Silva - a fascinating mentor in so many ways. Manuel Silva is an amazing grape grower and winemaker. He is in s 80’s goes salmon fishing, crabbing, grows his own vegetables and raises his own cows and pigs for food. He was my first winemaking mentor.
For years I would make wine from his vineyard, I would bottle it and be so proud. I’d bring him a bottle and say- Manuel, here is the wine I made… And for years he would taste it and say - Mike- “this wine is the shits” and spit it out…
I’ll never forget the fall day in 2011 when I brought him some of the 2009 Pinot Noir I had just bottled. He put it to his lips and his eyes fluttered as he tasted the wine. He looked over at me and said “Mike… You finally made good wine”. I kenw then, If Manuel approves, then I know the wine was good.
Okay, I can’t stand this.
Nice description of Manuel Silva, who is a great man, in a few well chosen words.
I’m just worried that what you already wrote about your beliefs, squirreled away as it is, might not be read, so here it is:
You continue to inspire me, Mike, and often I consider that you are the teacher and I am the student.
About Engracia Wines:
I named the Wine Engracia my Grandmother- Her name means Grace. She was a huge inspiration in my life.
She immigrated to the U.S.A. from Cuba in 1960. She came as a single mother to a foreign country. She didn’t speak the language, didn’t know anyone, where she would live or where she would work. She took a huge risk and made it happen.
Her drive and determination, proved to me that you can have anything in this world if you want it bad enough.
I look at where she was when she arrived in this country, and what she had accomplished when she passed away in 2007. Her drive and determination sits within me.
I am no artist, sculptor, painter, or builder. But, what I love to do (and feel I am fairly good at) is share my artistic expression through the medium of wine making.
All of our wines are hand crafted and made with a lot of love.
Yeah, When I make wine, I rub my back with rabbits… It’s tradition I learned from the ancient aliens when I visited Roswell, NM.
You see, rabbit fur has medicinal healing properties that only work by the light of a full moon when it is centered at Orion’s Belt…
I am totally messing with you… I really don’t rub rabbit fur on my back. Clark’s mention about the “rabbits” was a joke. However, they are tasty when stewed.
Yeah, time to lay off the home brewed distillate, Mike.
For those of you who come to visit, ask for a taste of the Whoo-EE!