Such a huge fan of these wines and the family that makes them. I keep telling my wife that I’m buying a high-end designer hoodie… that comes with a free case of Cotes-du-Rhone style wine!
“Originality is most important, everything else is secondary.”
– Anselme Selosse (personal conversation, June 19th, 2021)
Dear Friends of Kobayashi,
Here we go again. Across the board, the wines in this set are the best we have ever produced and we are very excited to share them with you. General housekeeping is in the next 4 bullet points, with much additional information following.
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Mario manages the wine orders / allocations manually and tries to spread the wines to as many people as we can while giving some priority to recurring customers. To order, simply reply to this email requesting your wines within one week and she’ll send you an invoice (please respond by August 9th). Pricing is unchanged at $55/ea for white wines and $75/ea for red wines; a few magnums of the reds are available at 2x 750mL price.
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If you buy the recommended case mix you will receive a hoodie with art we pulled from a Meiji period textile with the Kobayashi family crest (as always we don’t sell hoodies—they are only for our case-buying customers and the art changes annually). This year the Kobayashi case is: 3 Viognier; 2 Marsanne/Roussanne; 3 Syrah; 2 Sans Soufre Syrah; and 2 Cabernet Franc ($800). The art motif on the hoodies is Nami Chidori (more below).
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We were hoping to resume our big party tradition in 2021, and while things feel like they are creeping back to normal, I think a gathering with several hundred people is not responsible at present. I really miss seeing you in person and pouring our wines into your glass. We are working out the details for a special tasting and pickup option in Seattle during the first 2 weeks of September—more details to follow. Wines will ship out starting in September or as soon as the temperature is safe and we charge a fixed shipping cost of $4/bottle($48/case) in the lower 48 states.
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If you are interested in purchasing any of these wines please reply to this email with: a) your request; b) whether you plan to pick up your wine in Seattle during the first 2 weeks of September or your shipping address; c) the size of hoodie(s) you would like if you are purchasing a case (or 2).
On to the wines!
2020 Viognier
Each year that we have produced viognier it has improved by orders of magnitude. This version has the hallmarks of prior vintages, but the classic fruit and floral qualities of Viognier are now really at the forefront as the percentage of new oak has declined. As it was in prior vintages, this wine is natively fermented in French oak barrels. Because of the north facing aspect, low fruit zone, high density planting, and immaculate farming at WeatherEye vineyard, this wine has incredible natural acidity that puts it in stark contrast to most white wines (especially viognier) from this region. Before meeting with Yves Gangloff last month to collaborate on this wine, I felt like it had hit its zenith and I could finally start working on consistency instead of year-on-year improvement. But after being further inspired by Yves, I’m full of new ideas on how to keep improving the wine and therefore consistency has taken a back seat once again. This is all to say that although our 2020 Viognier is incredibly delicious, I can still sense a veil between where we are and where we might want to be. Voltaire said ‘the enemy of good is better.’ I’m a long way from enlightenment and am happy to tear things down and rebuild in order to continue seeking the better—I hope you expect nothing less from Kobayashi! In sum, if you’ve loved our Viognier in years past then you’re sure to love this one even more, but don’t be surprised if we change things with future vintages as we continue to pursue perfection at the cost of consistency.
2020 Marsanne-Roussanne
Before making my first Marsanne I hosted a tasting for a few excellent winemakers and friends. We opened ~12 different Hermitage Blancs and Saint Joseph Blancs to get a feel for the diversity of this varietal’s expression in the northern Rhone Valley—its place of origin. I also did research on winemaking techniques with different percentages of Roussanne cofermentation (when I could find this info, which was difficult because in the Rhone many of the vineyards are coplanted, so yields and percentages may vary annually or the producers don’t know/care enough to disclose it). It was very educational and several consistent themes emerged. My biggest take-away was that Roussanne cofermentation greatly impacted my enjoyment of the wines in an approximately linear dose-dependent manner. Unfortunately, this was somewhat heartbreaking because getting enough good Roussanne to add to our Marsanne was simply not possible. Dick Boushey had let me pick a few totes of it in prior vintages—which probably equated to 1% of the final bottling at most. In 2020, Dick allocated us enough to make a hugely positive impact, so we decided to give the Roussanne credit on the label.
People have told me that prior vintages of Kobayashi Marsanne changed their fundamental view on WA white wines—both what it was and, more importantly, what it could be. Those prior vintages were the stepping stones, and this 2020 vintage is the rocket to Mars(anne). To perfect this vintage I used cigar shaped barrels, which increases contact with the lees and adds a textural component that is hard to wrap my head around (needless to say next vintage I’m planning on repeating the use of these barrels). As you know from prior newsletters, we don’t use critical reviews to try to convince you to buy our wines, and if it were up to Mario we wouldn’t submit wines for scoring at all (this is an ongoing and unresolved topic of discussion in our quality-obsessed household). However, the fact that last year’s Marsanne made Owen Bargreen’s (now the Washington reviewer for Vinous) #5 spot on the top 100 wines of the year and his overall top white wine at 96 points was an affirmation that our wines are striking the right notes even among people who taste 1000s of wines per year. Believe it or not, the current 2020 version is even better.
If you are new to our list don’t be surprised by the color of this wine. We do about a week of skin contact (mostly aqueous prior to alcoholic fermentation so definitely not an ‘orange wine’), which extracts complex aromatics that we definitely don’t want to filter out. Therefore, a little swirl of cloudiness is expected.
2020 Sans Soufre Syrah
This is a wine that will never be able to scale up to large production. Each grape cluster is individually placed into our rotating fermentation puncheons by hand. It took us two full days with the help of friends and family just to get the fruit inside the barrels for the 2020 vintage. The wine is 100% whole cluster Syrah fermented in neutral puncheons, which is then pressed and aged 9 months in neutral puncheon and never racked off the lees. I changed up a few things from the previous vintage and like this one more—which is the theme of this release: all of the wines are better! We only plan to make the Sans Soufre in some vintages, and I doubt if we will ever make more than 500 bottles in a given year. To share something personal with you that reflects the result of this process and limited production: last year I received a text from someone in Seattle who has probably tasted more great wine in the last 40 years than anyone else in WA; he tried the Sans Soufre and told me that it was the best new-world (read non-French) Syrah he had ever tasted (among 1000s I’m sure). He also noted that we should be charging much more $ for it than we presently do. Well, coming from him, this was about the best compliment we could have received… the price, however, will remain the same.
2019 Kobayashi Syrah
This is a new wine for Kobayashi, so I’ll step back to explain how it came into being. A fitting place to start is to note that early in my winemaking journey I decided that I would never make a Syrah. It is my favorite grape, and I thought that I would prefer to simply enjoy it than tear myself apart chasing the dragon of perfection. When Yves Gangloff agreed to consult for my viognier, I knew it would be a missed opportunity not absorb everything I could about Syrah as well (since he is best known for his Côte-Rôtie Serene Noir—which approaches 100% Syrah but with a little Viognier coferment). Anyway, long story short, Yves told me that before taking any direction it would be best if I were to develop my own methods (which is where the Sans Soufre came from last year). As an extension of this self-directed, unique approach to Syrah comes this 2019 Kobayashi Syrah, which is our Gangloff Côte-Rôtie-inspired WA wine. As you would all be well aware, Washington State is not Côte-Rôtie (and in fact not even close in a variety of important respects). If I had tried to copy Yves’s wines exactly, the effort would have probably produced something like fake plastic flowers—which as Radiohead notes might look like the real thing, but eventually wears you out.
The fact that Gangloff is a non-formulaic winemaker is an additional safeguard against our Syrah and Viognier becoming soulless imitations. We talk philosophy and intent more than replicable behavioral/chemical process. Last month I travelled to France with the sole purpose of pouring this wine for Yves and discussing it. Before going I already had ideas of what I wanted to change to improve it for the next vintage (we make changes to improve all of our wines each year). Gangloff was shocked at how fresh and young the wine tasted. I told him my thoughts about changing the percentage of whole clusters and new versus neutral oak, and he agreed. He also agreed that this 2019 Syrah is serious, and perhaps the most intensely aromatic wine we have produced. It carries a lot of the same notes as the Sans Soufre, but instead of wafts and whispers of complexity, this wine is painted with splashes of rich, vivid, inky color. This is relative of course, as these grapes come from north facing vines and extreme viticulture—so very different than wines grown in a more standard way and positioned to get maximum sunlight. This bottling also has a small amount of Viognier cofermented with the Syrah, which adds some beautiful floral notes. In sum, this wine is all about breaking my own rules and understanding that anything worth doing is worth doing in a way that attends both to the idiosyncrasy of our individual style, commitment to quality, and the natural qualities inherent in a vineyard and the glorious fruit we get from it.
2019 Cabernet Franc
You may have noticed that the vineyard designation on our Cab Franc was dropped in 2018. That was done in preparation for our goal with this wine: showcasing the complexity of WA Cabernet Franc by sourcing fruit from multiple vineyards and regions. We have been actively seeking out the best Cab Franc vineyards from multiple AVAs and in the 2019 vintage we were able to do this for the first time. The result is, in our view, incredible. I love this wine and think you will too. It was aged in once-used barrels so there is no new oak, but the barrels were also not completely neutral. The fruit came in very concentrated, so the wine is packed with flavor, but I always try to pick at a time that preserves the classic Cab Franc herbal signature. I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this one, which is more approachable now than the 2018. This means if you’re keeping the 2018 version in the cellar—which I recommend doing for as long as possible—you’d be well justified in picking up some of these 2019s and popping one of them! On this point take note: there may be no 2020 Cab Franc as I note below (including the Mizunara spring release) due to many vines being smoke affected in 2020. However, the stars aligned in the 2021 bottling, which includes fruit from most of my favorite vineyards. This is all to say that if you like our Cab Franc, then these 2019s will do a great job of tiding you over while you wait on your 2018s to mature and for the next release which will be the 2021 vintage in a few years time. Drink up!
2020 smoke issues
Those of us living on the west coast of the United States experienced some horrific smoke last year. Unfortunately, it has already started up early this year due to a heat dome over the Pacific northwest and ongoing drought. During certain stages of grape maturation, they are susceptible to picking up smoke compounds that can be very noticeable in the wine later. It is a complex process with multiple contributing variables, including grape variety, timing of smoke exposure, and distance from the fire. In 2020 the smoke intensity was literally off the chart (at AQI 500, which is the highest the scale measures), but our sites were quite far away from the closest fires and therefore I felt confident that we had dodged a bullet (based on reading others’ experiences in California and Australia). After many fermentation tests and lack of any smoky aromas in our wines, I was happy with the 2020 vintage. Unfortunately, our Cab Franc in the Mizunara Barrel has started smelling a little smoky—because the most predominant characteristic of that barrel is Japanese incense, I think it was masked for the first 9 months of aging. I’m not counting out the Cab Franc yet, but obviously if the wine’s quality is negatively affected by smoke then we will not be bottling it. Therefore, I wanted to alert you all to the fact that there may be no Kobayashi Cab Franc in 2020. However, as I described above the other wines are incredibly exceptional and have escaped any 2020 issues entirely, as you will find out soon with the whites and Sans Soufre Syrah. The 2020 vintage in Washington was fantastic for winemaking, but because smoke did damage some wines for some producers you have to be careful of what you are buying. Yet, if someone tells you that all WA wines from 2020 should be avoided due to smoke taint, this is simply not true. As our 2020 wines exemplify, many vineyards and varietals look exceptional, and we at Kobayashi Wines look forward to adding joy to your life by tasting and sharing some wonderful 2020 wines.
Hoddie Art
Finally, this year’s hoodie art is of the Nami-Chidori (#波千鳥) motif of waves and birds. These are printed in white on navy which resembles the natural indigo resist dye technique Tsutsugaki (筒描き) that is used to create the original textiles. The waves are a symbol of worldly concerns, and the chidori symbolize perseverance as they are known for having an ability to fly through strong winds and over high waves during migration. Therefore, it is said that chidori flying among the waves represents the human ability to overcome challenges and achieve goals. Waves can also represent surges of good luck, which we can all probably use right about now.
Thank you for reading! We are so grateful for your continuing support of our small family winery and we are committed to providing you with delicious wines that we hope will bring joy to your life and those of others with whom you might share our wines.
Cheers!
Travis & Mario
mario@kobayashiwinery.com
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