New, Undiscovered Wine Producers

[Rebel Rose]

Here it is . . . the thread of new wineries (or undiscovered and unsung older ones) with hot talent and cool wines.

Let us know whose wines you have tasted that you're excited about. Tell us something about the owners or winemakers. How did you discover the wine? How much do they produce? Why do you like the wines? How can we find it? Do they have a website?

There's only one rule . . . the winery must not have been scored by a major wine critic yet.

Here's a tip from another thread:

Rebel Rose, I'm a big fan of David Dain's wines (Dain), and have been buying them since he started producing about 4 years ago, but recently they have been well reviewed in Wine Spectator.  Another of my favorite Pinot producers is WesMar (another winery that I have been buying from every year since they started.)  I also like and A Donkey and Goat.  One of my favorite Bordeaux producers is Chateau Behere, and I don't think I've ever see a score for them.  I also love Karl Lawrence, which isn't new, but does not normally submit their wines for review or scoring. 

If you are looking for a syrah producer that is just starting out, see if you can get on the list for Shane Wines.  New this year, they should be killer.

[dinwiddie]

Here it is . . . the thread of new wineries (or undiscovered and unsung older ones) with hot talent and cool wines.

Let us know whose wines you have tasted that you're excited about.  Tell us something about the owners or winemakers.  How did you discover the wine?  How much do they produces?  Why do you like the wines?  How can we find it?  Do they have a website?

There's only one rule . . . the winery must not have been scored by a major wine critic yet.

Here's a tip from another thread:

Rebel Rose, I'm a big fan of David Dain's wines (Dain), and have been buying them since he started producing about 4 years ago, but recently they have been well reviewed in Wine Spectator.  Another of my favorite Pinot producers is WesMar (another winery that I have been buying from every year since they started.)  I also like and A Donkey and Goat.  One of my favorite Bordeaux producers is Chateau Behere, and I don't think I've ever see a score for them.  I also love Karl Lawrence, which isn't new, but does not normally submit their wines for review or scoring. 

If you are looking for a syrah producer that is just starting out, see if you can get on the list for Shane Wines.  New this year, they should be killer.

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I should say that Karl Lawrence has been rated, I just haven't seen a WS score for them since the 1997 vintage. I've been buying them since 1994.

One of the problems coming up with the best of the new wines is that often they are offshoots of or affiliated by friendship to other well regarded small wineries. As such, because the winemaker is already well regarded, they get reviewed and all the production is locked up in allocation lists very early. For example, Pali wines are new, but they have been reviewed by WS in their first vintage because Brian Loring of Loring Wine Company is the winemaker. Shane wines, which I mentioned earlier, will probably be tasted and rated in its first vintage because Shane Finley is an Associate winemaker at Kosta Browne. His first release will be about 220 cases between three single vineyard syrahs. Ketcham Estate, which has wonderful Pinot Noirs, has Michael Browne of Kosta Browne as their winemaker.

You might give a look at M2 wines. The Petit Syrah is quite good. I believe that the 2000 vintage was the first for the winemakers, Layne Montgomery and Chris Matheny, but I might be wrong. They do some very nice things with syrah and syrah blends.

Edited May 15, 2007 by dinwiddie (log)

[Rebel Rose]

Jack Creek, Paso Robles

This vineyard, owned by Doug and Sabrina Kruse, is directly west of Linne Calodo in Paso Robles, and is the most westward vineyard in the Paso appellation, outside of York Mountain. The vineyard itself is beautifully installed and maintained. Their frst vintages were produced under the mentorship of Matt Trevisan at Linne Calodo. Both the pinot and the syrah have a silk-on-katana profile.

Jacob Toft, Paso Robles

This young, new producer is making some great cab/syrah offerings under his own label, while working as a cellarman for Stefan Asseo at L'Aventure. Jacob has also worked for Dover Canyon and Garretson Wine Co. His wines have a very rich expression and medium oak.

Booker Vineyard, Paso Robles

Some of you may be familiar with Booker Vineyard from the Saxum releases you have enjoyed. These first estate wines were produced under the tutelage of Justin Smith at Saxum although he did not "make" the wines.

These releases were bottled a little over a week ago. Owner/winemaker Eric Jensen double decanted them and brought them over for tasting. I loved the wines, but we both felt that at least one was still quite closed, so the wines were not submitted for Robert Parker's tasting the next day.

2005 Vertigo

80% Syrah / 20% Grenache

Named for the high slopes of the vineyard, where these picks were sourced. Aromas of chocolate, plum, smoke and tobacco follow through with sweet fruit flavors of plum compote, and dusty tannins that linger softly.

2005 Fracture

100% Syrah, 100% Hilltop

Named for the exposed, fractured calcareous soils on the vineyard ridgetops.

An inky wine with plum, smoke, sage and roast beef aromas. Deep plum flavors and blue acids, grippy tannins, a chewy cherry skin and roast beef finish. If Ian McPhee were to offer his buffalo entree with bing cherry sauce, this is the wine I would want to have with it.

2005 The Ripper

80% Grenache / 20% Syrah

This wine clocks in at some seriously high alcohol, but it is exceptionally rich and deep, particularly for a grenache. When tasting it in barrel, Justin Smith used the Aussie term for a delish big wine, and said, "It's a ripper!"

Intriguing aromas of violets, sage, mace and coffee. The floral notes are quite evident at this point. Flavors of cherries, raspberries, candied fruit, mincemeat, and apricots with a bramble/cane finish.

[Bill Miller]

Two Oregon wines I have in my celler are Prive', a pinot noir with fabulous flavor and promise of a long life and Cana's Feast, a bordeaux type blend that is almost chewey--I've not seen them reviewed in the magazines yet.