A couple weeks ago I ordered a case of the Spring Jolie Laide Release. These wines are so consistent and always in my wheelhouse. With the COVID 19 crisis Scott Schultz Owner-Winemaker said in the release letter that he would be delivering wine orders in Sonoma County. When I actually ordered the wine I didn’t see that option but chose GSO because they were free delivery and are super carriers. Yesterday afternoon my phone rings and it’s Scott saying he is downstairs with my case of wine. Well he was actually a half block away but we had no problem waving each other down. I guess GSO in this case was Scott Just great wine delivery service during this pandemic.
Inspired by that wine delivery I’m writing up a couple of Jolie Laide wines we had during the past couple of weeks. I can’t recommend these wines enough. I apologize in advance as the word balance always is in my Jolie Laide tasting notes. Scott makes a real variety of wines from familiar names like syrah, grenache to others like melon and trousseau gris and several other wines and blends.
2017 Jolie Laide GSM Shake Ridge Ranch: This was Scott’s first year with fruit from Ann Kramer’s revered Ranch as Rossi Ranch is being replanted. He wanted to make a wine that represented the entire site and showed the varied soils and micro climates. This wine does exactly that. All the fruit Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre and Viognier was picked together and cofermented whole cluster.
Red fruit here, cherry, currant and raspberry, some graphite and olive plus that rosy like essence I always get with Shake Ridge fruit. Already showing complexity very good acidity, a mineral core with some herbal notes and sweet tannins on the finish, everything in perfect balance. Nothing but old barrels used letting that awesome Shake Ridge site shine through. 13% ABV
2015 Jolie Laide Syrah Halcon Vineyard: I first had this wine at a Jolie Laide Winemakers dinner at The Brass Rabbit in Healdsburg following a 7% Solution Tasting 4 years ago. I don’t believe the wine was even released yet but when served with dinner you could see the potential this wine had. Well 4 years later while still young this wine is starting to realize that potential. Grapes are crushed by foot, fermented whole cluster and pressed to old oak barrels. Decanted 90 minutes.
Blackberry fruit, smoked meat and lavender aromas are lovely, could smell this all night. Blackberry, boysenberry fruit, black briny olives, smoke, black pepper and iodine flavors are layered. Medium body but with super concentration, mouth filling with good acidity and some tannins that help make for a long finish. Lovely now but with a long runway from here. Like all Jolie Laide wines, nothing but old barrels used. 12,5% ABV
We were having my wifes pizza that night and I asked “what wine” thinking she would yell out Italian. She chose this, not my first choice but it worked. Happy wife happy life and all that, I’m no dummy
Nice notes, Tom. I’m not familiar with the producer at all, but it sounds like they might be more old world in style? Any other winery you might compare them to in terms of style? What’s the pricing on the wines…they have one of those annoying web sites where you can’t see pricing from the winery unless you’re a list member.
Mexican pizza? I hope these wines are more traditional than that !
Marshall, been reading and enjoying your notes for many many years. I think I know your wine preferences and Jolie Laide fits in perfectly. Spontaneous ferments, NEVER any wood showing, only old used barrels, low to moderate alcohols (not a sure sign of quality but important for me) 11-13% wines are ALWAYS impeccably balanced and fair pricing. Scott has a Spring Release which is mainly white wines and a rose. In the Fall release there are the red wines and blends.
Scott Schultz is the Owner-Winemaker for the Jolie Laide Brand. He crafts the wines in the same facility in Sebastopol with Pax Mahle who has the Pax brand.
I normally pick up the wines at their joint Open House where I take notes on the wines and post, obviously not in these times. Here is my post from October 2019 on Scott’s Fall release. Besides my notes you can scroll down to the prices on that release. Let me know if you need any further info.
PS: Not real Mexican Pizza. Our friends like what I call the Chilli’s Tex-Mex pizza
Your welcome and I should be thanking you for many of your recommendations over the years. You probably saw it in the link I shared but in case you didn’t, at the bottom of that thread is another link from May 2019 Jolie Laide Spring Release where I wrote up my notes and impressions on those wines.
I also just checked my allocation which is still open. In addition to the normal Spring Release wines Scott is also offering his 2017 GSM, 2017 Syrah Halcon which were released Fall 2019.
Tom, do you have a particularly strong recommendation or two from this offering? I tried the Valdigue rose at a restaurant in Minneapolis last year, and it was excellent.
Aside from that, I’m probably more interested in the reds, particularly any light, energetic, crisp reds in a Sandlands style The Trousseau blend looks interesting, though this is the first time for that one.
Love these notes and the wines. Been hedging on ordering because I have storage issues but the reminder email hit my inbox this morning. I’m getting weak!
The easy answer would be “all of them” but seriously if you are not sure, here are my suggestions assuming you have allocation to all the wines.
MELON DE BOURGOGNE, RODNICK FARM, CHALONE: Love this wine, can’t get enough of it each year.
TROUSSEAU NOIR, POULSARD, GAMAY, VALDIGUIÉ, CALIFORNIA: Last year was a first for this wine but Scott says it will become permanent. A cross between a rose, rosato and light red. Totally crushable.
GAMAY, BARSOTTI VINEYARD, EL DORADO COUNTY: Like the Melon a wine I can’t get enough of. Another crushable wine.
In my allocation I am offered two reds from the Fall release. This is a first for Scott. If you are offered the reds I would give them a go.
2017 GRENACHE/SYRAH/MOURVEDRE, SHAKE RIDGE VINEYARD, AMADOR: See my review above.
2017 SYRAH, HALCON VINEYARD, YORKVILLE HIGHLANDS: The 2015 I had recently is a beauty. The 2017 at the pick up last fall was young but will likely develop into the 2015. See my note in the link above
I did not include the rose which is excellent every year as you have experience with that wine.
I picked up a couple bottles of that Melon last year. It’s one of those grapes I’d love to play with, particularly because of those older Chalone bottlings - labeled as Pinot Blanc, and in their same weird-world reality that denied certain alumni ever worked there, they replanted to actual Pinot Blanc instead of admitting an understandable mistake and staying with a winner. Anyway, this wine is fantastic, and also shows the stuff to age well, as the old Chalones did.
Will be trying some others n the near term. Also, a friend has the Halcon and I have Halcon Vyd Syrahs from several others (Halcon, Highlawn, Von Holt, Waxwing, Alesia), so perhaps a tasting is in order, though no hurry.
Alex, not sure about the story behind the name, I sense there is some irreverence there.
I did find a very good interview and transcript with Scott Schultz that took place in March 2019 that shows how he started making wine, his philosophy, vineyards etc etc. For anyone interested here is the interview. I highly recommend you listen to Scott and not read the transcript. Hearing him speak you get a real feel for what he is doing and trying to accomplish. In the beginning he does talk a bit about the name Jolie Laide
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Just great wine delivery service during this pandemic.
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