TN: 2014 Dirty & Rowdy Yountville Semillon--eh

WINE TALK
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A good friend of mine started out at Turley when launching his own thing to, John Grant of Couloir. Best of luck to you as well.

Not really sure why my conversion rates on barrel fermented whites are so high, as high as .69 with a average range of .6-.62 based on ETS brix. Maybe being the coldest vineyard example of Semillon and SB in CA has something to do with it. I usually pick the Semillon just prior to winter rains, though not the last couple vintages. When assessing the grapes I am often waiting for the TA to drop below 10 and pH to get above 3. I have had issues with the malo finishing, it always has but very slowly in a couple low pH vintages which usually have a lot of malic to start out with due to the cool temps we get compared to where the varietal calls home traditionally. I don’t fine/filter or inoculate with yeast or ml and the wines don’t get so2 till malo is done.

Semillon when done the way I like to drink it has a long life ahead of it. We hold back a good amount and will rerelease when 10 years old. Only 2 more years to go till I can reshow older versions with a decade of age. I think Hardy is going for a very ageable style as well especially with adding in some skin contact. I did a small trial of skin fermented semillon and bottled up a few cases some with so2 and some without. They are fun to drink but hard to pair with food for me, however when Hardy recommended fried chicken last time he was in the tasting room that pairing is now a favorite for the couple times a year I dip into those trial lots.

22

Had this the other day, with Hardy in the room, at The 10 Bells in NYC. The bottle was served VERY cold, but as it warmed up, I warmed up to it. Definitely needs time to improve but I thought it was great.

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Thanks, Joe!! I met John a few times (believe I sit in his old office, actually). Hell of a nice guy.

This is simply a wild ass guess, but I wonder whether your malics being that high aren’t also affecting sugar inversion in the grapes (hydrolyzing sucrose into glucose and fructose)? Conceivably, you could be creating more fermentable sugar and therefore increasing your conversion rate. I’ve read about this happening in hard candy production, but not winemaking. Which is to say, I know just enough chemistry to get myself into trouble and what I don’t know could fill volumes. So, yes, one man’s wild ass guess.

Tegan (Turley’s winemaker) was kind enough to open a 1984 Lovedale Sémillon with me once. My God, that wine haunted me for days. Still unbelievably fresh and vibrant. If I can make a wine half as good with half of that lifespan, I will have done something right.

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Mike, are you going to tell us the name of your other side project?

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Appreciate the interest, Rich. It’s a very fine line for me. Certainly didn’t want to come off as a schill or abusing my position. Honestly, making wine is why I got into this industry and my Harvest in the Hunter Valley represented the proverbial “Paul on the road to Damascus” moment for me. Never had anything like Hunter Valley Sémillon before. Those wines aren’t just a reference point for me, they’re also my inspiration in trying to make a serious Sémillon.

Our initial production will probably be less than 150 cases, most of that the Sémillon we sourced from a block planted in 1992 in a vineyard down in Oak Knoll. Been grinning like a fool ever since we got that fruit. The Syrah co-ferment is from a vineyard my girlfriend farms in Stag’s Leap. It’s a solitary row of vines her former boss grafted cerca 1999/2000 with suitcase cuttings he brought back from an old vine Shiraz vineyard in Australia.

Our winemaking philosophy is probably best described as minimal intervention. That is, picking early, native ferments, used barrels, etc. We’re planning on releasing our first wines at some point this Fall as well as securing more fruit sources for the 2016 Harvest and carefully growing production. Suffice it to say, though, what we have in barrel right now is more than enough to keep me up at night.

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Mike, did I miss the part where you divulged the name of your winemaking operation?

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Sorry, gents. Didn’t mean to be so vague about things. Very cognizant of not trying to abuse my position here and coming across as trying to hawk my wine/project to the board.

Label is tentatively called Fine Disregard Wine Co. (tentatively, in that we’re still in the trademark process). It’s a reference to William Webb Ellis who is often credited with starting the game of rugby at the aptly titled Rugby School in England in 1823: “… who, with a fine disregard for the rules of football as played in his time first took the ball in his arms and ran with it thus originating the distinctive feature of the Rugby game.” As anyone who knows me can attest, Rugby has had a rather lasting and profound impact on my life. Calling the wine Fine Disregard, therefore, makes this that much more personal for me.

We have a VERY basic splash page right now where anyone interested can sign up for the Mailing List:

Thanks!!

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Signed up!

Love the name/background on it Mike. Definitely excited to hear more as things progress.

Cheers!

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Thanks! Do not be afraid to let people know about your wine project! You have contributed immensely to threads and are capable of sharing insider information about the winemaking process.

WB folks usually love direct-from-the-cellar insight.

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Cool to hear about this new venture, Mike - sounds interesting. I met another Turley guy in January who’s started his own label in the past few years - Karl Wicka’s label, The Missing Leg. Karl is Turley’s winemaker at their Templeton facility, and his own wines are worth checking out too. I like Jon Grant’s Couloir Pinot a lot as well.

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Thanks, Ken!! Really appreciate the support. Karl is a good friend and has been making some interesting wines under his Missing Leg label for a few years now. Definitely worth checking out.

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Circling back on this one - offer is out and order placed.

Pumped to try these wines (Lost Row Syrah and Milhouse Semillon) - especially the Semillon.

I know it’s super limited but there might be some wine available if you sign up - finedisregardwine.com

No affiliation at all…just think it sounds like a great project and Mike seems like a good dude.

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2014 Dirty and Rowdy Sémillon - USA, California, Napa Valley, Yountville (9/19/2021)
– vigorously decanted –
– tasted non-blind over 2.5 hours on Day 1; revisited on Day 3 –

NOSE: faint fruitiness, with some sandalwood; light powdery element; not much going on. Didn’t unfurl much, if at all, by Day 3.

BODY: light bodied; medium amber color.

TASTE: dry; spicy woodsiness — incense and sandalwood; light orange wine character; light and delicate; slightly tangy; not much flavor; 10.67% alc. nnot noticeable; very little flavor; fruit maybe not ripe enough?; I just don’t get it. Day 3: a bit more giving now, with medium+ acidity, but still not much going on; there’s a little something there, but that little something doesn’t seem complex, interesting, or forthcoming. This wine is, and always has been, terribly vexing for me — maybe it just needs more time, but that’s a possibility I don’t really believe in. Drink now if you’re into lightly-flavored mineral water, keep holding if you believe time will ultimately unlock some secrets here. As it drinks today, my gut impression score is probably in the 70s ---- I really want to like this, there’s just not much in the way of aroma or flavor to like (or dislike, for that matter).

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a couple previous notes, below. As you can see, I had a far more favorable opinion the first time I had this wine, primarily because I could imagine favorable evolution. Unfortunately, the wine simply hasn’t evolved in any meaningful manner, and I (perhaps prematurely) no longer have said optimism.

2014 Dirty and Rowdy Sémillon - USA, California, Napa Valley, Yountville (8/2/2015)
– vigorously decanted; saw a couple hours of air before tasting –
– tasted a couple glasses non-blind –

Very mineral-driven. Not much on the Nose. Has an unusual, but pleasant, tequila-like flavor on the palate — lots of tangy, salty, mineral tones.

2014 Dirty and Rowdy Sémillon - USA, California, Napa Valley, Yountville (6/8/2015)
– popped and poured –
– tasted non-blind over 2 days –
– one of the bottles that arrived w/temp of 83F –

NOSE: quite expressive; lots of mineral; smells like it will be quite acidic; interesting and pleasant note of woodsy salami; blind, I might struggle to identify this as a white wine; light lemonade note after extended air exposure.

BODY: hazy; sediment present; pale yellow color; light to medium-light bodied.

TASTE: interesting spiciness — seems to be some kind of fragrant wood – cedar? – not sure where this comes from, as I’m fairly certain this wine never saw oak; lots of mineral flavor; medium-high acidity contributes to this wine’s zesty presentation; hint of sun tea; paired very nicely with pork & shitake mushroom spinach salad; although I wish this was a little richer, I like it a lot, and I wonder if this will gain weight with age. Will happily follow this wine with interest over the next few years, and might even give one a chance to go 5+ years.

50, 5, 12, 17, 7 = (91 pts.)