NEWBIE INTRO Forgotten Union Wines

BenjaminL · January 8, 2021, 2:58am

Greetings!

Benjamin Leachman here, sole proprietor of Forgotten Union Wines.

I entered the wine industry after getting a degree in Biochemistry from Occidental College. After a few years of being assistant winemaker for RH Phillips (pre-Constellation Toasted Head), I went back to get a BS in Vit & Enol and a MS in Hort & Ag from UC Davis. After graduating in 2011 I started working with Philippe Melka at Seavey Vineyard.

I became the Vineyard Manager and Assistant Winemaker in 2012. I left Seavey to take an Associate Winemaker position at Checkerboard Vineyards in 2014.

There I made Martha McClellan & Bob Levy’s wines (L&M), alongside Dennis and Steph’s estate wines. After harvest I left Checkerboard to start my own wine company, Forgotten Union Wines, out of my house in the historic ‘Union City’ area of North Napa. I returned to UCD a second time to get a Wine Business Certificate from the Graduate School of Management while moonlighting as Director of Viticulture at Walsh Vineyards Management. Oh, did I mention I do international vineyard consulting as well? I know a thing or two about growing and making ultra premium grapes.
My first release was a 2015 Stags’ Leap Cab for which I created the Vidi Vitis label. It was my first Valley Floor fruit fermentation, and it has aged beautifully.
2015 VV Cab.jpg

In 2017 I transitioned to Oakville:

Through my contacts at UCD I was able to secure a 4-year contract on fruit from the Old Federal Vineyard (which, for obvious reasons I can’t call ‘To-Kalon’). The fruit is unparalleled! The tannins are almost too soft, the fruit almost too bright. Pair that with some really high end oak (Taransaud, Darnajou and a little Gamba here and there) and prepared to be blown away by the results! I’m also a proponent of low sulfur dioxide use. How low? Total SO2’s below 50ppm. We keep things really clean and topped up and haven’t found the need to do constant SO2 additions.

(adapted from Matt Stamp, 2015 The True Story of To-Kalon Vineyard - Matt Stamp - Feature Articles - GuildSomm International)
I have a second label focused on Carneros Chardonnay & Pinot, Sheepish, which delights in ripe fruit from this cool region. Sheephishly ripe fruit! I farm the grapes for the Sheepish label at my day job where I can identify blocks with potential and execute when opportunities arise! While my Vidi Vitis label was professionally designned by a neighbor of mine, my Sheepish label was drawn by an undergraduate buddy (he was paid in wine).

My current 2019 Chardonnay is from 30 year old vines of Clone 4 planted to 5C rootstock in the rolling hills just west of the City of Napa. It’s a balanced, crisp wine made with low intervention (no yeast, no MLB, minimum SO2). 50/50 Stainless Steel and French Barrel Fermented. Please expect harmless tartrates in the bottom of the bottle.
The Pinot noir is from a nearby vineyard planted in 2001 to clone 459 (a rare clone, distinguished by dark color, high acidity, and large clusters). I was trained on Napa Cab, so it’s a California style, ripe and fruity.
In the works for bottling 2021: Coombsville Merlot, Sonoma Valley Zinfandel, and Rutherford Xinomavro. Keep an eye out for reviews from Spectator!

I’m posting some reviews from Board Members on my wines on offer below:

Bryan_Parker:

I picked up a bottle of each of the three wines that Forgotten Union produces the other day and tasted last evening. My tasting notes are below.

[Disclaimer: The winery where I work uses the vineyard management company that Benjamin works for to farm their vineyards but I do not work with Benjamin directly]

2019 Sheepish Chardonnay Carneros 14.25% ABV
Straw color. Pear, Green Apple, Honey aromas. Also an intriguing Chamomile note that I don’t typically pick up in Clone 4. Nice entrance, with the Pear and Honey flavors following through, refreshing nice balance with toasty oak notes on the finish. No heat but I was surprised the oak did not appear more in the aromas. I am not a fan of California Chardonnay for the most part but I liked this wine.

2018 Sheepish Pinot Noir Carneros 14.95% ABV
Lighter red color. Floral, dried Strawberry, dried tobacco leaf aromatics. There is certainly a good percentage of new oak used and it is in both the aroma and flavor. There is a good acidity in the wine, linear, with a little heat on the finish. I am curious to see how this wine evolves.

2018 Vidi Vitis Old Federal Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville 15.25% ABV
Dark purple color. Has a Cassis/Chambord aroma I get from many Napa Cabs, ripe and flashy. Also milk chocolate and dried herbs which are enticing. The mouthfeel is tight and linear with a good amount of tannins. The finish is long and persistent, and no heat on the finish given the Alcohol ABV. I would have loved to have a little more fruit to balance out the spicy oak and tannins but all in all a nice effort. This is a young wine that needs some age.

I have not participated on the board too much. I do hope to post more in the future.

2017 Vidi Vitis Cabernet:

John_Bacigalupi:

Hi Benjamin,

So sorry for the late reply.

I thought the sample was great. Following are unfiltered observations.

I thought the nose was great. Initially I got black cherries but then as it opened up I started getting deeper darker fruits like blackberry and blueberry. Other notes on aroma were barrel notes like toast and espresso. Do you feel the oak needs to integrate more? I felt like I was tasting a wine that will have the oak better integrated with bottle age. I felt the nose showed the alcohol to be pretty well integrated despite its ABV level.

On the palate, I got the same fruits noted on the nose. I liked the acidity too, which I felt was slightly higher (in a good way) than many Cabernets the To Kalon site produces. Is malolactic fermentation completed for it? No overt heat on the palate either. I thought the finish was fairly long echoing the toast (in a deft not clumsy way) I got on the nose. Overall the palate had that kind of “savory” character which by that I mean it made me want to take another sip!

Doing some quick research the only producer I could find that sources from Old Federal Vineyard is Baldacci but I’ve never tried it (or any Baldacci wines for that matter).

Those are my observations and again sorry for the late reply. Hopefully this is useful.

John

Please, if you have any further questions, don’t hesitate to ask! My cell is 53O-798-Ol49, or email at benjaminleachman at gmail dot com. https://www.forgottenunionwines.com

Cheers!

Todd_Hamina · January 8, 2021, 9:32pm

Welcome!

Adam_Frisch · January 9, 2021, 1:23am

Welcome!

Max_S1 · January 20, 2021, 9:27pm

Heads-up, the URL link isn’t working - some weird thing that I see happen on occasion on these forums. It essentially include the wineberserkers url before yours.

Pat_P · January 20, 2021, 9:33pm

Doesn’t work for me either.

J_Rock · January 20, 2021, 9:34pm

That Cab sounds promising. Welcome!

BenjaminL · January 20, 2021, 11:27pm

Thanks so much for pointing that out Max- I added https in front of it and I think it works now.

BenjaminL · January 20, 2021, 11:31pm

Thanks Jordan, I think it’s pretty rock solid Cab. I’m starting with pristine fruit from an amazing area of Napa. I’ll get a berserker review or two posted here soon so “you don’t have to take my word for it”.

Cheers,
Benjamin

brigcampbell · January 21, 2021, 3:41am

Mod edit: fixed the the link, all good now.

Bryan_Parker · January 25, 2021, 2:34am

I picked up a bottle of each of the three wines that Forgotten Union produces the other day and tasted last evening. My tasting notes are below.

[Disclaimer: The winery where I work uses the vineyard management company that Benjamin works for to farm their vineyards but I do not work with Benjamin directly]

2019 Sheepish Chardonnay Carneros 14.25% ABV
Straw color. Pear, Green Apple, Honey aromas. Also an intriguing Chamomile note that I don’t typically pick up in Clone 4. Nice entrance, with the Pear and Honey flavors following through, refreshing nice balance with toasty oak notes on the finish. No heat but I was surprised the oak did not appear more in the aromas. I am not a fan of California Chardonnay for the most part but I liked this wine.

2018 Sheepish Pinot Noir Carneros 14.95% ABV
Lighter red color. Floral, dried Strawberry, dried tobacco leaf aromatics. There is certainly a good percentage of new oak used and it is in both the aroma and flavor. There is a good acidity in the wine, linear, with a little heat on the finish. I am curious to see how this wine evolves.

2018 Vidi Vitis Old Federal Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville 15.25% ABV
Dark purple color. Has a Cassis/Chambord aroma I get from many Napa Cabs, ripe and flashy. Also milk chocolate and dried herbs which are enticing. The mouthfeel is tight and linear with a good amount of tannins. The finish is long and persistent, and no heat on the finish given the Alcohol ABV. I would have loved to have a little more fruit to balance out the spicy oak and tannins but all in all a nice effort. This is a young wine that needs some age.

I have not participated on the board too much. I do hope to post more in the future.

John_Bacigalupi · January 25, 2021, 8:03pm

Hi Benjamin,

Appreciate you posting my review of the 2017 Old Federal Way Cabernet Sauvignon as I was a little delayed reposting it myself and preparing for BeserkerDay in general.

Just wanted to supplement my review by saying that I definitely sensed elements of the To Kalon flavor profile when I tried it. It would be interesting (and rewarding as well I’m sure!) to try it again after almost 2 years and the oak becoming more integrated. Definitely worth the time of folks on this board to consider trying it as a BeserkerDay pick-up!