I would enjoy adding a few things on a slow Monday post San Francisco Super Bowl.
Waxing poetically here…
For my own taste the majority of California Pinot Noirs bring an image impression of a round circle without edges. That is not the case with the small handful of producers who use stem inclusion. The stems add an edge to the wine. They take that round circle and turn it more into what might be perceived as a bicycle gear with edges but still with it’s original round shape. For me, the wine with edge, is far more complex and intriguing than the perfectly round circle wine.
Another thought:
A lot of wines after fermentation are like paintings that hang on a wall without a frame. They look or appear unfinished. A frame pulls the painting together. Often, with some wines that are rather simple, 100% new oak is added to frame the wine. The wood can often though scar the wine as the oak can be smelled and tasted. That new oak barrel isn’t a part of the original terroir of the vineyard and can overtake the wine actually overshadowing the terroir. Maybe the producer feels they need to add structure to their wine and they in turn use that new oak which adds wood tannin but at a cost. What’s great about stems is that they are a part of the terroir, part of the plant. Falstaff has stems that taste more stemmy than McDougall’s stems. That is the signature of the terroir. Stems are obviously wood and add a tannin but that wood or tannin is integrated during the fermentation, not after the wine is made like what happens when aging in new oak. In 2014 and 2015 we completely removed any new oak from our wines to 100% neutral oak for this reason. We don’t need the additional structure. Our wines get framed during fermentation and don’t need framing during elevage which for my own taste again often leaves a wine scared.
If two chefs have two pieces of beef from the same cow and are asked to cook the beef for a cook-off, and are given no other ingredients, I want to eat the steak from the chef who realizes that he had a few salt packs in his pocket. The salt brings out another flavor dimension which is unobtainable without salt. Making wine isn’t much different than cooking albeit it’s much slower. Stems are my salt and add a wealth of flavors and complexity and character which is achievable without them. It’s an extra ingredient. It adds a third dimension. It acts as a natural preservative, protecting against oxidation. Can the steak taste salty? Sure it can. Can the stems smell stemmy, sure they can but they can also take a wine to heights that are achievable without using stems. Could that be why DRC, Leroy, Dujac, Roumier and others often use 100% stem inclusion? I am not sure but with California’s exorbitant sunshine, we are gifted with phenolics which stems love. Ever wonder why DRC uses 100% whole cluster only in highly phenolically ripe vintages? Should I be comparing Burgundy, probably not but there just aren’t enough wines, producers and track records here to do the same. That said, the best and greatest California Pinot Noirs I have ever tasted included producers who used 100% whole cluster. OLD bottlings of Mount Eden, Chalone, Calera, etc.
When one makes a Pinot Noir at 12.1% alcohol, the wine can often taste light in body. The alcohol or glycerin seizes to provide the backdrop of length and stick to the sides of the mouth. To counter-balance and add power, length and body, I let high levels of stem inclusion do the work. They take a round wine and broadens it’s shoulders, building it up. I have done the experiment multiple times in multiple vintages & in multiple vineyards and always received the results. It goes like this: 5 experiments: 100% de-stem vs. 25% whole cluster, vs. 50% whole cluster, vs. 75% whole cluster, vs. 100% whole cluster. All from the same vintage, same vineyard, same pick date, same clone, same exposure. Fermented identically. Elevage in the same aged barrels, same cooper. When it comes down to tasting, complexity goes up and up and up and up from the de-stemmed wine to the 100% whole cluster wine. The de-stemmed wine just isn’t even close to the whole cluster wine in terms of complexity. Those experiments have caused myself to not enjoy making de-stemmed wine. For my style, with my own hands and my vineyards, I find them inferior.
There is no wrong or right in wine. Everything above is an opinion. Drink what you like. My journey of 11 years making wine and 20 years of hardcore exploration and drinking has taken me to this point. I make wines for my own taste. Hopefully others find as much pleasure in them as I do.
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