If you are visiting us for the first time, Welcome!. The Wine Spies feature one exceptional wine each day – and we only bring you wines that we ourselves seek out and love. Always, the wines are great. Sometimes greater than great, as is the case with today’s wine from Twisted Oak Winery.

TOP SECRET SPECIAL: Free Shipping on orders of six or more bottles. Use the promotion code SPYSHIP during checkout.

Mission Codename: Rhymes with “Duck”

Operative: Agent Red

Objectives: Rendezvouse with El Jefe, infiltrate his Twisted Oak Winery, and decode the strange symbols on this incredible wine

Mission Status: Accomplished!

Current Winery: Twisted Oak Winery

Wine Subject: 2005 Calaveras County ^%#&@!

Winemaker: El Jefe

Backgrounder:

Agent Red was recently called upon to give a “Wine 2.0” presentation to wineryfolk at a wine industry event. Scheduled to appear on the panel with him was Jeff Stai, aka El Jefe, the irreverent and different-thinking owner of Twisted Oak Winery in Vallecito, California. Red had heard great things about Twisted Oak and had been pressuring Central Command to send him on a mission to the winery. Because other missions had taken priority, a trip to Vallecito, while planned, was long delayed. Using the industry event as an opportunity to meet with El Jefe, Agent Red had just one problem: He had no recent intel on Jefe and had little to go on in order to find him at the venue – before the panel was to convene. Pressing technology to use, Red manages to locate Jefe and seal a deal to bring his exceptional wines to our Operatives here. Read below for a brief mission, ummm, briefing.

Wine Spies Tasting Profile:

Look – Deep ruby red with great though dark clarity (not murky) and crystal clear at the edges, with great and slow-moving legs that creep down the glass after a swirl

Smell – Rich and dark blackberry, boysenberry and cherry with a great dark earthiness with spice and clean mulch

Feel – Cool and wet, then quickly dry all-over-mouth with wonderfully medium-strong tannins

Taste – Powerful and delicious, this wine presents a burst of flavorful dark stonefruit, black pepper and dark cherry

Finish – Big and bold at first, then tailing off beautifully with pepper and fruit flavors that dry to the edges of your mouth

Conclusion – Put simply: This is an incredible wine. Like the winery and winemaker, this wine exhibits plenty of character and bold style – but with a balance and refinement you would expect from a far more serious winery. Make no mistake, we LOVE this wine and feel that it deserves your special attention. This is no novelty wine with a crazy name, this is a real wine-lovers wine that could go head to head with elegant Napa cabs… and beat the $&*(#@!% out of them!

Guest Sommelier Agent K contributes her thoughts on this wine:

“Strong cherry notes with blackberry and pepper, finishing with a hint of vanilla. The palate shows off strong black cherry and black pepper.”

Mission Brief:

After hearing great things about Twisted Oak Winery I was thrilled, when called upon to participate in a wine industry forum on the uses of “Web 2.0” in the wine trade, to find that the infamous El Jefe (Jeff) of Twisted was on my panel. There was just one problem… I had no idea what the guy looked like.

I had followed El Jefe on Twitter for some time and had become a recent reader of his blog and was on my way to being a bonafide fan, even without trying his wines. Anyone that has as much fun as he appeared to have couldn’t possibly produce bad wines… or could he? I had to find him to find out.

I got the the symposium early, in order to enjoy the panels before mine, and sat in the audience. Because I keep my Wine Spies identity secret, I could not expect Jeff to know what I looked like. So, I employed my spyPhone and Twittered a message to Jeff, asking him for his location and describing my appearance. 2 minutes later, our mutual locations and descriptions traded over Twitter, we agreed to meet after the current panel.

We chatted briefly before we were ushered to our panel. The presentation given by Jeff and the other panelists were fun and informative. It was clear to me that Jeff was an innovator in the field of web technology as it can be applied to a successful winery. I hoped that this innovation translated to his winemaking and we made plans to sample his wines in order to find out.

The wine I bring you today knocked my spy socks off on first sip and after some time spent swirling and discussing the wine with Agent K, it was clear that this boastful wine was a remarkably flavorful and bold – but also balanced and delicious wine. This is sure to be the first of several Twisted Oak wines that we will bring you. I just hope that I am the Agent chosen to retrieve Twisted Oak wines on future missions!

Winemaker Brief:

From the winery: “Scott Klann crafts all Twisted Oak wines. Scott has been in the wine making business nearly 15 years. His knowledge of what works best is unmatched in the area (it doesn’t hurt that he was raised in Murphys.) Scott’s experience and personal relationships with the growers in Calaveras County allows Twisted Oak Winery to purchase the best fruit from these outstanding vineyards to complement our estate grape programs.”

Wine Spies Vineyard Check:

The location of Twisted Oak and the neighboring vineyards where the grapes for this spectacular wine are grown can be seen in this satellite photo.