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What We Say 2007 Santa Maria Valley Pinot Noir
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Mission Codename: The Original
Operative: Agent Red
Objective: Return the the Santa maria Valley, in search of a fantastic Pinot Noir, worthy of our Operative’s exacting tastes for Pinot
Mission Status: Accomplished!
Current Winery: Indigene Cellars
Wine Subject: 2007 Santa Maria Valley Pinot Noir
Winemaker: Raymond Smith
Backgrounder: California’s Central Coast region, and specifically Santa Barbara and San Luis Obisbo County has become one of the state’s premier regions for Pinot Noir. The generally warmer climate, moderated by the coastal fog, its sandy and clay loam soil, and broad exposure results in Pinot of exceptional purity
Wine Spies Tasting Profile:
Look – Deep burgundy in color, with edge highlights that glimmer shining pink. The wine is slightly opaque through its concentrated core. When swirled, the wine shows a slightly loft bounce. It settles quickly, leaving behind tight clusters of skinny legs that streak down the glass
Smell – Lush and bright, great cherry, cranberry and cassis lead the way. These are followed, quickly, by more earthen aromas of soft forest floor, leather, brown spice, anise and black pepper
Feel – Taught and soft on the initial attack. Then, soft tannins take gentle hold at the edges of the mouth, gently drying the mid palate, the tongue, lips and cheeks – with a soft minerality
Taste – Bright cherry, cranberry, and young strawberry lead the way, with follow-on flavors of cigar box, subtle leather, soft brown spice and dried fall leaves
Finish – A long finish that is extended when the wine has been well decanted. The wine starts darkly juicy and goes slightly tart. Then, soft spice appears as flavors gently tail off
Conclusion – This youthful wine benefits from decanting. After thirty minutes, the wine opens up and the fruit and other subtle flavors emerge, to reveal a wine that was not even there upon opening; It is delicious, soft and full of subtle complexities. Our tasting panel spent a long time experimenting with the wine, reveling in the way that flavors and aromas continued to emerge long after our first sips. The bright acids in the wine made it a great companion to our homemade brick-oven pizzas. The variety of pizza toppings was dizzying – but the wine matched beautifully with all of them. Cheers to Raymond Smith for allowing us access to this delightful Pinot Noir! Enjoy now, but hold a few bottles for even greater drinking pleasure.
Mission Report:
WINEMAKER INTEL BRIEFING DOSSIER
SUBJECT: Raymond Smith
DATE OF BIRTH: 11/1962
PLACE OF BIRTH: Oakland, California
WINE EDUCATION: Fresno State and UC Davis
CALIFORNIA WINE JOB BRIEF: Owner, mobile bottling service for premium California winemakers. Owner, Indigene Cellars
WINEMAKING PHILOSOPHY: I find fruit sources and varietals that are as close to native as possible. I also select isolated clones, and produce wines of higher acidity and lower alcohol content
SIGNATURE VARIETAL: Bordeaux Blends
WINEMAKER QUOTE: “Listen closely to thee vineyard”
WINEMAKER INTERVIEW
AGENT RED: Greetings, Ray. We are thrilled to be showing your Santa Maria Valley Pinot Noir today. Thanks so much for taking some time to answer questions for our Operatives today.
WINEMAKER: Thank you for having me.
RED: Was there a specific experience in your life that inspired your love of wine?
WINEMAKER: I’m a mobile bottler I have taken courses and made wines and asked questions to perform a better service
RED: And where did you learn the most about winemaking?
WINEMAKER: I try to build a strong platform in the vineyard with isolated clones and optimum growing conditions and then I quietly ad my wine styles in small patterns
RED: What is your winemaking style or philosophy?
WINEMAKER: I try to build a strong platform in the vineyard with isolated clones and optimum growing conditions and then I quietly ad my wine styles in small patterns
RED: What wine or winemaker has most influenced your winemaking style?
WINEMAKER: Greg Vita expanded my wine vision But Christian Tietje helped me find my pallet and use more resources available to me
RED: How long have you been making wine?
WINEMAKER: 17 Years making wine
RED: Who do you make wine for?
WINEMAKER: I make wines formatted towards the consumer I make pieces of art for the people who dare to be different
RED: Tell me, what makes the Santa Maria Valley so special?
WINEMAKER: Cold climate fruit with coastal influence where some varietals are harvested at close to the same time give you more choices of fermentation styles and exhibit more earth characters
RED: What is one piece of advice that you would give to someone that is considering a career as a winemaker?
WINEMAKER: Imagine yourself as part of the process, the closer you get to the wines the easier to exhibit your influences
RED: What is occupying your time at the winery these days?
WINEMAKER: Choosing the right barrel combination for blends, varietals, etc.
RED: Please tell me a little bit about the wine we are featuring today
WINEMAKER: 100% Martini Clone Pinot Noir, Hand crafted to exhibit the unique characters of high pitched fruit forward nuances and spicy finishes of Pinot Noir the isolated clones show the natural beauty and is easy to build your wine style around it
RED: What is your favorite pairing with today’s wine?
WINEMAKER: Herb and Garlic Cornish game hens
RED: Please share one thing about yourself that few people know
WINEMAKER: I am totally approachable ….that I am more adapt to help the next winemaker to keep true to the art
RED:What is your favorite ‘everyday’ or table wine?
WINEMAKER: Treana Red Table wine
RED: How would you recommend that people approach your wines, or wine in general?
WINEMAKER: With my wines you should take time and taste the nuance, don’t just drink the wine but taste the wines and enjoys the subtle notes that I prepared for your enjoyment
RED: If you could choose any one wine to drink (regardless of price or availability), what would it be?
WINEMAKER: There’s so many beautiful wines out there (Foreign and domestic) it would not be possible to make a choice
RED: What is the one question that I should have asked you, and what is your answer to that question?
WINEMAKER: It would be “what is the new blend or wine that you have planned to release next “ and the answer would be “I can keep a secret”
RED: Thank you so much for your time. We learned a lot about you – and about your wine. Keep up the great work, we are big fans!
WINEMAKER: Thank you for your time and attention
Wine Spies Vineyard Check:
The vineyard where today’s wine was born can be seen in this satellite photo.
What the Winery Says
Indigene Cellars
About The Wine:
This cool climate Pinot Noir is created from 100% Martini Clone, elegant and noteworthy with dark cherry and plum notes.
Medium to full bodied, its fleshy platform carries earth tone flavors of Bing cherries, toasted pistachio and mocha, rounded off by slight tannins and a touch of natural acidity, it results in a silky fruit driven finish that is elegant and drinkable now but will gain in richness and depth with cellaring.
The dry winter of 2007 along with a cool spring delayed the growth cycle 3.5 weeks. This extended hang time resulted in the optimum in expression of varietal character. Pinot Noir from this vineyard was harvested October 12.
These loose clusters with small berries were hand harvested and gently de-stemmed into small fermenters. They were then chilled to a lower temperature to cold soak the must before fermentation , the cap was gently punched down 4 times a day and when dry was the wine was immediately transferred to French oak barrels. This wine was barrel aged for 14 months.
About The Vineyard:
Warmer than vineyards in the lower Santa Maria Valley, Flood Family Vineyard is cooler than the Santa Ynez Valley only twenty miles to the south due to what is known as the transverse range, which are coastal mountains running west to east that bring cool winds and fog inland from the Pacific Ocean.
Its southern sloped Vineyards are planted on Alluvial sand and the Pinot Noir from this vineyard is 100% Martini Clone that was grafted on Sylvaner Root Stock in 1994 This single acre produces between 2.5 and 3.5 tons of optimum fruit
About The Winery:
We at Indigene are inspired by wines that transcend the ordinary by assembling varietals that outrival others within their respective viticultural appellations.
Indigenè Cellars is a small Family owned winery nestled in the upper Carmel Valley. Producers of premium Varietals and elegant blends, we at Indigenè invite you to experience our unique translation of art, nature and tradition.
About The Winemaker:
Born and Raised in Oakland Ca. Raymond worked as a Ship Joiner and grocery clerk. In the late 1980,s Raymond moved to the small town atmosphere of Paso Robles Ca. where he quickly acclimated himself to the many aspects of the wine business. Shortly thereafter he helped build and eventually owned and operated a small fleet of mobile wine bottling lines.
After building many good relationships with both growers and producers he decided to further challenge himself and create small combinations of what he understood as excellent growing conditions, Innovative idea’s and abstract cellaring practices
- His focus is distinguishing aromas
- Transcending earth-tone textures
- A balanced but fruit driven pallet
- And a well structured tannin sprinkled finish which in tandem create unique noteworthy varietals and elegant blends
Technical Analysis:
Varietals: 100% Pinot Noir, 100% Martini Clone
Appelation: Santa Maria Valley
pH: 3.52
TA: 6.18g/L
VA: .058g/100ml
Alcohol: 14.4%
