Clark Smith Kickstarter

Many of you may know Clark as a previous WB “special guest”. He also had offers for his WineSmith wines on Berserker Day. I am a huge fan of Clark’s wines (and Clark himself, having had the pleasure of meeting and spending time with him). His methods have been sometimes controversial but the man is a genius and his results speak for themselves, as those of you who have had an opportunity to taste his wines will likely agree! His book Postmodern Winemaking was voted 2013 “Book of the Year” by Wine & Spirits magazine.

Clark has had a rough go of it in recent years despite his winemaking prowess and encyclopedic knowledge. He was mostly getting by on sales through Wine Woot but they are owned by Amazon and the licensing requirements necessary to sell through Wine Woot became much more stringent last year under Amazon’s team of legal advisors. This resulted in the loss of Clark’s main revenue stream although he does do some consulting work as well as putting on seminars fairly regularly.

The bottom line is that he needs money to bottle his wines that are still in barrel. He has a Kickstarter Campaign for this purpose and is trying to raise $10,000. He is currently at $3,450 with only 8 days left to go. If he does not raise at least $10,000 he gets nothing so won’t some of you please consider giving an excellent winemaker a chance to do what he does best? If successful, it will likely come full circle next Berserker Day as we have an opportunity to purchase the wines we helped bottle!

Again, I am simply a fan of Clark’s (have over 3 cases of WineSmith in my cellar) and would like to help him continue to produce his outstanding wines. I have donated to the campaign and will consider raising my donation if he starts to get close to his goal in the coming days.

I also like Clark’s wine, but I wonder if he would have received a better reception had he offered his wine as futures.

I hope that things go well for him. By all accounts a very knowledgable guy. His book is also quite interesting, though a bit beyond me.

Would have hoped that he would have offered wine on the kickstarted campaign as well.

My thoughts as well, but I wonder if there may be some legal issue preventing that…

Still, having met him and purchased his wares, I’m in.

Kickstarter doesn’t allow alcohol as rewards.

Michael

Unfortunately not… I wonder if he could have offered futures though, as Corey suggested? He’s now up to $3,550 with 7 days to go.

Nope.

He should have used www.Cruzu.com. Michael Brill (founder of Crushpad) created it specifically for wine related crowd-funding.

Thanks, everybody, for your concern about my Kickstarter campaign. David has explained the situation accurately. I would have loved to put a futures deal in place, but alcohol sales and discounts are both forbidden on Kickstarter. I appreciate the advice about Cruzu.com and will look into it if I ever have to do this again.

I’ve got a work-around, due to a generous benefactor who says that if I fall short of my $10,000 goal, he will lend me the difference and buy out the campaign. But to do that, I still need to get cash. Futures is the traditional way to raise cash for bottling.

I am offering a futures discount of 36% on cases, including mixed cases, of the wines we are bottling. They are some of the most unique I have ever bottled - a Reserve Syrah ten years in twenty-year-old barrique, a Russian River Pinot Noir eight years in neutral wood, and some new and novel varieties. Also, I am finally bottling my 2007 Lake County Cab Franc, which I skipped over to allow further development.

’05 Syrah Reserve (Suisun Vly) - $50
’07 Cab Franc Lake Cty - $40
’07 Pinot Noir Russian River - $50
’13 St. Laurent Carneros - $25
’14 Grenache Santa Cruz Mountains - $25

Here is what Michael Carpenter of http://www.ReddCollection.com had to say about these remarkable offerings:
"If you like the idea of tasting truly pure wines, these are for you. If you’re looking for a summer-blockbuster-movie style of wine, this might not be the place.

A few comments:

’05 Syrah Reserve (Suisun Valley) - $50
Beautiful, clean flavors with proper acidity, along with the roasted meat and smoke we all enjoy in a good Syrah.

’07 Cab Franc Lake Cty -$40
Love this wine, CF is one of the most interesting and delicious when done well and this is the ticket. If you’ve never had a good one before, this is just a tweak (different) than most and it makes an exceptional value.

’07 Pinot Noir Russian River - $50
A beautiful version. Laser beam precision. With so many overblown Pinot’s being brought to market, this is what we’ve been looking for. Screams to be paired with wild Salmon IMO.

’14 Grenache Santa Cruz Mountains - $25
Lovely. Not enough Grenache being made in the north bay and this is reminiscent of a great value CdP. A must buy for Grenache lovers, as well as Pinot fans who may have never tried this varietal.

’13 St. Laurent Carneros - $25
If you are always on the hunt for tasty St Laurent…well then you’re unique. Only Clark says he sees it everywhere. A tasty and interesting wine that will deliver a new experience to most drinkers. Worth the effort to secure some, plus a great wine to share & broaden people’s minds. An enjoyable, rare find in my book.

FWIW, I also happened to love his bottling of 2005 Second Fiddle Pinot. It really is a stunning wine as the maturity has added so much complexity to it. Will be fun to throw into a blind Burg tasting."

I need to bottle these wines August 10th. I will throw in free shipping until then. Here’s hoping I can pay off my friend by then.

You are bottling St. Laurent? I didn’t even know they grew any in CA! And Carneros makes perfect sense for it. And by coincidence I happen to have some friends in town from Hungary.

Question - these are bottle prices and you’re discounting those 36%?

And how are you accepting payment - PayPal, CC?

Anyhow, sent a PM.

I’d love to know more about these wines. Reserve Syrah aged ten years in twenty-year-old barrique…did you forget about the wine or…?

Hi Clark, thanks for stopping by…
What would be the best way for people to take advantage of the 36% Futures discount and/or any discounts on your current wines?
Also, would it be possible to put a Heat Hold on orders 'til the Fall? Thanks!

Oh, and I would be remiss not to ask about the 2010 Roman Cab Franc as it is conspicuously missing from the list - is this something that will eventually be released under the Two Jakes of Diamonds label? Best Cab Franc I have ever tasted!

I just set up a thread in Commerce Corner titled Clark Smith’s Kickstarter Campaign and Futures Offer.

Your support is greatly appreciated. These are pretty neat wines.

You got it right. The wine is still in barrel, but will be bottled this Fall under the Two Jakes Roman Reserve program. Dan Berger sent it down to the Six Nations New World Challenge as the best Cab Franc in the U.S… It’s really something.