So what did I learn about Gideon and his wines?
It is always nice to see a winemaker invest 100% in his passion in all areas of winemaking – even if it kicks his ass sometimes. But he has his vision: produce a set amount of wine (no more), earn a modest living, let nature do her work in pre-packaging the grapes, and make an enjoyable wine with light human touch.
Berry was correct up thread in that Gideon is bent towards natural winemaking. He tries to use no stainless steel at all in his winery, preferring wood as much as possible; he uses old oak verses new; no inoculation; his wines are unfined and unfiltered; only feet stomp his grapes in whole clusters in old open oak vats; low SO2; no lab analysis; no pumping; and little to no irrigation. He seems to revel in the fact that modern banking rejects his model and the federal government is his main backer.
I was also struck by how he portrays his part as a winemaker in such passive terms. At first I thought it was a language thing (he is Israeli-French and a non-native speaker), but the number of times he mentioned events ‘just happening to me’ seemed to go a bit further. Even his entry into wine making and inheriting a winery is described as just pure chance that ‘happened’. In the end, I got the feeling he sees himself as just a farmer riding out what nature deals him. Draught happens, frost happens, brett happens…
Towards the end of his talk, he said that if the environment is good and in order, his wine will be good. Mother nature pre-packages everything it needs with the grape. But on the other hand, he also acknowledged that the environment is becoming more volatile and gave the example of bugs decimating some of his trees that had been standing for decades. I guess it begs the question how a more natural, hands-off approach to making wine coexists with a less predictable and volatile environment. But that’s another discussion…
The only time I really felt that he played his hand with his wine was in the fact he has a definite preference for lower-alcohol wines with good acid that go well with food. That’s not an uncommon preference, but he said that if the alcohol content is too high, he gets headaches and simply can’t enjoy the wine. And his cinsault blends are his attempt at making good dinner wine.
Anyhow, I know this is just commentary, but the reason I mention it is that even though Berry hasn’t experienced brett/VA in Clos Saron wines, and none of the bottles we had were affected by those issues, I could definitely see his wines being more exposed to those problems.
As for the wines, I found most of them very enjoyable. I will note that due to a miscommunication, Gideon and the distributer thought they were arriving early, but they were actually late, which meant that many of the wines did not have time to air out properly.
The Cart Blanche was a blend of Albarino and Verdejo with purchased fruit. He normally doesn’t purchase his fruit, but he gave up some leases and I think he said there was some frost damage. Anyhow, it was a very clean wine with mineral notes and some fresh green apple, and a nice tart finish. I really enjoyed it.
I liked both of the cinsault-based wines: Out of the Blue, and A Deeper Shade of Blue: The latter was my favorite. The nose was more aromatic. The fruit was a bit ‘juicier’ with acid up front leading into more graphite and dusty tannins, and a hint of pepper at the end.
The two primarily syrah bottlings, Stone Soup and Heart of Stone, were not to my liking. I found the tannins too pronounced and powerful.
I also really liked the Black Pearl blend (Syrah, Cab Sauv, Petit Verdot, and Sauv Blanc). This was possibly my favorite bottle. His site says the last grape is merlot, but he definitely said that it was Sauv Blanc at the tasting. I am not sure what is correct. Anyhow, I can’t read my scribble much on this one, but it was richer with dark fruit and had a nice acidity.
And unfortunately, my scribble on the Home Vineyard Pinot is completely unreadable. It was in the middle of the pack in terms of my preference. But I definitely think it needed more time to air out. It struck me as a bit clumsy out of the bottle, but I bought another bottle that I will try again at a later date with better decanting. I think I am going to be pleasantly surprised by it. That’s my hunch.
Well, those are my impressions of the event.
Cheers,
Karring