Happy birthday Clark, and cheers to a very special birthday deal!
Since my own birthday was yesterday, I decided to give myself a present.
I actually debated this, though. I’m trying to maintain a WBM, and the fact that I’m unlikely to get one of the library wines made this far less of a slam dunk than I expected it to be. Maybe I just expected too much, but that email had me very excited and now that excitement must be tempered.
Of course, library wine or no, it’s still Clark’s wines and I’m sure to get six bottles that drink far beyond their price point.
Happy, happy birthday to you Clark! 65 years young and still rockin’ it!
My fellow wooters-
Don’t miss out on this awesome selection of mystery wines, you will not be disappointed. You are guaranteed a signed bottle of 2007 Crucible from the man himself, as well as a bottle of 2010 Two Jakes Roman Reserve (no sulfites added) Cab Franc, and WineSmith 2007 RRV Pinot Noir. - which shows the graceful longevity good Pinot Noir can have
Once these other wines are gone, they are gone, and many have never been on woot. It would be best to get your wooter friends together that pick up on this deal and share your WineSmith gems with each other.
As always, if your state isn’t on the ship list, contact me directly and I will be sure to get you some of this delicious juice. Mike.winesmith@gmail.com
Happy Wooting!
Happy Birthday, Clark! I’d appreciate the same arrangements. I’ll send a PM with details.
Howdy Mike!
Do you and Clark have a tasting room? I’m planning to be on the area in late September and would love to stop by…
Thanks Ron for these impeccably meticulous observations.
William Younger’s book “Gods, Men and Wine” was the inspiration for 15 vintages of Roman-style winemaking. One aspect of Roman winemaking, according to Younger, is that the Romans had no pesticides, herbicides and although they had access to “blue smoke” and used it in other ways, the Romans did not believe in using sulfur dioxide in winemaking.
My training told me this was quite impossible, so of course I had to try it. Many unexpected results ensued. The most surprising is that properly-made sulfite-free red wines do not oxidize. The problem, instead, is too much reductive strength. We had to leave this one in barrel for five years, and it is still a baby. So I asked Ron and some others to perform this experiment.
As he reports, the wine is a bit funky when first opened, so decanting the day before is not a bad idea, except that it’s fun to watch it evolve and morph before your eyes in the first few hours. But when it’s had a couple weeks to breathe properly is when it’s really at its best.
Tune in later and I’ll explain the chemistry of this. In brief, SO2 short-circuits oxidative polymerization, the engine of oxygen uptake, dropping the wine’s O2 Appetite an order of magnitude. Properly made sulfite-free wines have much more complexity and aging potential than conventional sulfited wines.
To play this game, it’s essential to know what you’re doing. The principles are laid out in my book, Postmodern Winemaking..
Happy Birthday Clark! Thank you for your gift.
That will be great. We need to work around my visit to my Mom in Philly for her 92nd birthday to introduce her to my new lady-love RuthE Wells. We return the night of September 7th, and I’m available after that.
Our office is right downtown in Santa Rosa, 441 Beaver St… Walk out the back door of the Russian River Brewery and travel one block north - there we are. We’ve got a CoraVin and can tap into anything you like.
You need to make an appointment. Can you suggest a slot on the 8th or 9th?
Happy Birthday Clark!!
Definitely in for one. Clark you always make killer wine deals for us Wooters, thanks! Crucible is always amazing and Cab Franc is my go to, though I’ve not had the Two Jakes. Excited for it and the mystery wines!
How I appreciate these careful notes! The experience of tasting Roman wines for the first time is a little like your first encounter with an unpasteurized Époisses de Bourgogne or Italian fontina. So much weird information to process, no place to put it.
Here’s the way these wines occur to me.
To begin with, there is less family resemblance among Cab Francs than any other red variety. They really pick up on terroir differences, and no sane person would put a Chinon, a St. Emilion and a Graves into some grab-bag French Cab Franc competition. They have no commonality at all and different stylistic goals.
Lake County CF has distinct features you’ve seen from me many times - no pyrazines (dispelled by the high altitude UV), white cherry aromas, the influence of local droughty herbs like rosemary and sage, and the abundant mineral energy in the finish that volcanic soil imparts. These are shared in the Roman version. But layered on top of all that are a kaleidoscope of elusive and constantly shifting aromatic elements.
The complex microbiology fostered by the absence of preservatives brings about an added dimensionality of flavors common to much organic produce. I notice green peppercorn, porcini, Romano, marmite, strawberry and many other notes coming and going like a musical piece.
But to appreciate this experience, I recommend tearing oneself away from this reductionist view, trying to describe the whole by naming the pieces. The real appeal of these wines is the emotion in the emergent whole.
This is a racy, savage, brash and captivating beast, like your crazy friend who you love because you never know what will be the next thing coming out of their mouth.
I’ve no idea how, after so many years of buying Woot Wines, I’ve never purchased an offering from WineSmith. All the auto buys from the usual suspects seem to have passed these by. Looking at the notes and reviews from the names I have come to trust make me feel like I should be jumping on this, so I’ll order two as a small attempt to make up for lost time.
And a very happy birthday to all of us!
Seeing as how you are a fellow birthday celebrant, you have melted my tannins. See PM.
Well I’m very glad to know I share a birthday with such a wine woot legend. Buying one to celebrate my own! Cheers!
I assure you that this is my most interesting Cabernet Franc to date. I have to acknowledge Jake Stephens of Diamond Ridge Vineyards for having faith in me to produce these Roman wines, a prospect any educated enologist would have deemed ridiculously risky at best. Welcome to cutting edge winemaking.
Welcome to the adventure, and most grateful birthday wishes.
And we share a birthday with Marcel Proust. Love dem madelines.
Not knowing this, my astonishing lady gave me at dinner a card with a Proust quote:
“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”
I had to get this offer. Since Clark doesn’t ship to Poland it will sit in my daughter’s cellar in Ohio until my next visit to the US. When I was visiting last year we had a wine.woot party at a winery I used to work at in NW Pennsylvania B&D from Buffalo were there as well as Chip from Ohio and his lovely fiancée. We had a crap ton of various woot wines and local wines as well as a bottle of '83 Château Mouton Rothschild. We also had a bottle of Clark’s 2005 Crucible. The Crucible was a close second to the Bordeaux in the best wine of the day comparison, I don’t have any tasting notes except I remember it as being a unique, complex and remarkable wine. Doug Moorehead, the owner of the winery, Presque Isle Wine Cellars, and well known pioneer vinifera grape grower and wine maker in that part of the US mentioned he had met Clark at a wine making function in the past.
Hopefully I will be back in the US in 2017 for my daughter’s graduation from her pre-med program and I hope to have a repeat gathering at the winery again. I look forward to enjoying these wines. I have have also had Clark’s '08 Cabernet Franc Lake COunty, '05 2nd Fiddle Fiddlestix Vineyard Pinot Noir and the '04 Napa Valley Faux Chablis, Student Vineyard, Napa Valley. All have Clark’s wines have been excellent and stamped with Clark’s unique style that sets them apart from other wines of the same varietals. I can’t wait to taste my way through these bottles.
Happy birthday Clark!
I thank you so very much for your liberal and cosmopolitan wine attitude.
My dear friend who used to be my sales manager is married to a Polish genius beauty who works in import/export and can probably help us.
Let’s start from you making a wish. What would we try to ship? Mainly she will need to know quantity and shipping weight.
You and I will need to determine price. I give big discounts based on buying history.
Oh man. I didn’t expect the cab franc to drop in a package like this, but - I’m in for 2! I’m going to need another fridge just for clarke’s wines…
That is a very intriguing offer. I am pretty sure my German wine friend would be willing to go in with me on at least a case, possibly 2, in for a penny in for a pound, right?. Fortunately my friend has a large climate controlled (temp and humidity) cellar to keep the wines in optimal conditions for years. Big, complex, European reds are what we prefer, we drink a lot of Bordeaux and Burgundy, many of them 20-30 years old and some 1st growth but a lot of no names as well. My German friend was with me a the US tasting and he admired the Crucible as well. I would say a mixture of Crucible, Cab Franc and Pinot Noir in a 5/5/2 mixture would hit the spot. PM me with some numbers and we can talk.
Your friend’s “genius beauty” Polish wife is about par for the course here, Polish women are remarkable. My Polish wife and I are separated but still good friends. She is a musician; pianist, soprano, teacher, music therapist, choir director and orchestra conductor so I have access to a vast selection of wonderful music to truly bring your wines alive. We could even have a little live concert at the house to really make it interesting as we know many musicians. I am looking forward to hearing from you and I will talk to my German friend firm up the quantity.
Edited to add s photos.
Some of our adventures:
