Received an email about the inaugural vintage. 2 750’s & 1 mag for $320. Seems like a no brainier. Decent price and recommended by Manfred in his last offering letter.
" I prefer extremely low yields. 2013 was a bumper crop for us. I harvested 5 tons off 9 acres, that’s about 7 hl/h for my Eurocentric friends…
I want fully ripe, concentrated grapes, without raisins, mean greenies or imperfections.
I like precise canopy management. I’m sustainably certified & proud of it, largely organic (not terribly important to me), and spiritually biodynamic – we have sheep, goats & cows and use Biodynamic Preparations taught to me by my friend, Philippe Coderey. I’ve read Steiner. He wasn’t a hippie and neither am I (but I do have some whom I count among my close friends). I compost & cover crop, and I drive my ATV & F150 to the blocks –they are DEFINATELY NOT biodynamic.
I see my vines as elite athletes training in a first-class gymnasium, with me as their stern coach, caretaker and guide. They are going to work, suffer, produce, survive, recuperate, and be lovingly tended, while striving for the ultimate glory of offering their fruit for your pleasure.
My winemaking is an extension of this and could be described as attentive, but basic.
If it’s not already pretty obvious, I consider the process of growing and winemaking one-in-the-same – arduous, yet fairly straightforward. Damn my Burgundian tendencies!
Describe your first release, True Believer 2011?
True Believer, my Flagship cuvee (and the only one at this point - a couple of more things are in the works for 2014), is essentially a fully ripe, cool-climate blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre. I can achieve ripeness on these varieties at chilly Bien Nacido by combining VERY LOW YIELDS with minimal irrigation on sandy soils (especially as pertains to the Grenache). My goals for this wine are to achieve a seamless elegance, savory-ness, balance (structure, concentration and complexity to support the ripeness and extraction levels that I conceptually favor for this wine), ageability (MS Word tells me that’s NOT a word), spiciness, captivating herbal undertones, subtle (but not too subtle) fruitiness, and both intellectual AND sensory stimulation."
Curious whether anyone has even tried this wine yet? Also, what’s the price tag on it?
There’s some great syrah grown at Bien Nacido based on the wines of Jaffurs, Ojai, Qupe, Bonny Doon and others. Not much Grenache grown there at all, and I was not aware of any mourvedre, but obviously there’s at least a touch there.
Very interested to hear more - and a link to a website or sign up.
Chris has been doing a great job at BN for a few years now - obviously a great site for both Pinot and rhones. And I do believe Manfred continues to get grapes from there - no?
Still wondering if anyone has tried the wines yet . . .
Really looking forward to trying it. I’ve never read a release letter and had the vision of vines wearing sports jerseys pop into my head…sold on that fact alone.
Say whot, Larry?? As in RandallGrahm?? Wow…that would be a stretch.
At least, as of a month ago that would have been my reaction. But several weeks ago, I had Randall’s latest two Syrahs (BeinNacido X-Block
and Jesperson/EdnaVlly). They were sensational. My reaction was that BonnyDoon is back. Reminded me of his Syrahs from the '80’s.
TN will eventually follow.
The X-Block Syrah at BienNacido is the oldest block, down where the flats start to rise up towards the ridge-top on the southern end of the vnyd.
Tom
I’m guessing Manfred wouldn’t be putting just any old plonk in his own release letter. If one of CA’s greatest winemakers telling you to buy it isn’t good enough, I don’t know how you’d ever buy an initial release.
Yep, pricing seems pretty ‘aggressive’ compared to ‘known’ wines from our area that usually go for a lot less. Not saying it’s not ‘worth it’, but interesting that no one seems to have even tried the wines before - just going on a rec from someone else. Curious . . .