Robert Sinskey Vineyards

Natural Commitment

We were recently slandered in an online blog. It all stemmed from a wine dinner Maria and I hosted at A16 in San Francisco during Natural Wine Week. Acclaimed Sommelier and A16 co-owner Shelley Lindgren decided to showcase local wineries she felt were doing things the natural way.

Well, that did not go over too well with a certain group of “natural wine” extremists. One person, in her blog, accused Shelley of sullying the “natural wine” movement by showcasing “conventional” wineries. Well, being called conventional got my dander up and, after a bottle or two, I pecked out my response*:

We made a commitment, over 20 years ago, to be 100% organic in the pursuit of pure, vibrant, expressive, terroir-driven wines. Our first foray into Biodynamics was in 1991. We are 100% CCOF and Demeter certified in all 180+ acres of vineyard. We do not buy fruit. We made a commitment to reduce our impact on the planet by not using synthetics or toxic chemicals in the vineyard or in the winery. We produce a large part of the energy we use and run our equipment on biodiesel when animals can’t do the job. We allow nature to drive our winegrowing and winemaking. However, we believe in producing a wine that is sound when it goes in the bottle so the work in the vineyard is reflected in the finished wine.

We are not perfect. Dig deep enough and you will find inconsistencies and contradictions, as you will find with every “natural” producer. Once a human is involved in the farming and winemaking process, we are no longer working in a natural environment, though we can emulate natural systems, every decision we make is an intervention.

I realize that we are guilty by association. We grow grapes in a wine region that’s been dominated by a science and technology paradigm... that has, for better or worse, influenced most wine regions of the world. It is romantic to travel to a far flung place and discover a wine that is unique and distinctive. Not so romantic to travel an hour north to make a similar discovery. I salute Shelley for having the guts to discover and feature wines from her backyard that are not typical New World commodity wines. If we don’t say yes, and support those that do it well, we will end up with the cookie cutter commodity wines we despise. Shelley has stuck her neck out with the rather uncool premise that you can find wines of passion locally.

There is nothing wrong with the idea of nothing added, nothing taken away, as long as the wine is sound. The reality is that sometimes the dogmatic pursuit of the ideal leads to a wine that is flawed and lacking in pleasure ... and is ultimately less pure because steps weren’t taken that could have prevented contamination. A spoiled or flawed wine is a spoiled or flawed wine whether it is natural or not.

Winegrowing is a passion, but not a hobby. To pursue our lofty goals, we must be able to keep our business going. If we have to choose between a sulfur addition or flawed wine, we will choose the former. Same with filtration. It would be irresponsible and self-defeating, to sell a wine that was suffering from bacterial spoilage. We do not, however, do anything to a wine that alters its inherent character or flavor profile.

The reason most winemakers do not use the title “natural” is because it is a philosophical ideal but, as I stated before, if you dig deep enough, you will always find contradictions and inconsistencies.

The natural farm (as opposed to the natural wine) movement began as a reaction to industrial agriculture at the beginning on the 20th century. Sir Albert Howard, Steiner, Lord Northbourne, and later Albrecht, all helped to define natural systems that evolved into a larger philosophy of purity and naturalness. It is an ongoing journey. These concepts have driven our version of natural wine long before we even knew of a natural wine movement. We have not ignored any movement, though industrial wine from any country ignores any system that is less than quantifiable and profitable, rather we have been quietly and diligently refining our systems over the past twenty years, constantly learning better ways as we go. Purity begins with the land and evolves from there. The rest is just technique.

Natural is impossible to define. There is no standard. “Nothing added, nothing taken away, except for sulfur... UNLESS the wine is in danger” is a great slogan for natural wine. However, it leaves a lot of leeway for the individual to decide how far they will go and how much they will declare. Dogma does not make for good or even pure wine, rather what does is a philosophical approach that allows one to react and respond to what is presented by nature.

*edited for ease of reading and to protect the guilty!

Back to Basics

There’s nothing like the warm aroma and hearty nature of a Beef Daube to buffer the encroaching chill of winter. Daubes were once the staple of Old World peasant fare, as leftover scraps of tough meat could be tenderized in a wine marinade. The kitchen garden supplied vegetables and herbs to add flavor and cover up the gaminess of older animals and lack of refrigeration. This Daube, with the “je ne sais quoi” of juniper berries and Niçoise olives, is a hit with the Vandal Duo of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. The beef is hearty enough for the moderate tannins of the cabernets with their rich cassis fruit and the gentle, baking spice kiss of fine French oak. Eat, drink and wrap yourself in the rich warm happiness of a good Daube and Cabernet.

Until the next wine…
Maria

EAT: Provencal Beef Daube

Cabernets in Carneros? The Los Carneros region has an identity crisis. Over the last few decades, the region’s success with Burgundian grapes, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, obscured the fact that many highly touted Carneros wines are made from Bordeaux, Rhone and Alsace varieties. Carneros is a relatively large region with micro-climates that can accommodate many varieties on a site specific basis.

Back in the late eighties, RSV decided to act on the somewhat contrarian point of
view that sections of the Carneros harbor affinities with the Bordeaux region of France. Los Carneros straddles the foothills of the Mayacamas Mountains as they roll down into the San Pablo Bay. The bay exerts a maritime influence, making for a climate not entirely unlike that of the St. Emilion or Pomerol regions of Bordeaux. The Vandal Vineyard, blanketing the shoulder of land that rises to become Mount Veeder to the north, juts out of the fog a bit, and harbors bands of well-drained volcanic soils interrupting otherwise dense clay. Cabernet Sauvignon thrives at the top of the ridge, out of the fog, facing the sun and on well-drained soils. Cabernet Franc vines drape down the hillsides as the soils get a bit denser and things cool down a bit.

The Vandal Vineyard provides the Cabernets with the perfect heat summation for a long ripening cycle so we can make wines with full flavor development, good acidity and moderate levels of alcohol.

The Vandal Vineyard
Once upon a time, two boys from Napa discovered the oak grove cresting RSV’s northern Carneros Vineyard. From this vantage point, they could hear the other kids playing in their back yards and ignore their mother’s calls.

Bored kids find stupid things to do. A discarded mattress from the roadside became a temporary distraction as they dragged it up the hill to the fueling tanks, lit it on fire and sat back to watch it burn. Fortunately, nothing exploded.

Their thrill-seeking urge unsated, they soon set their sights on the brand new tractor parked on top of the hill. After poking around, they found the keys cleverly hidden under the seat. Round and round they went, before pointing the tractor down the hill and jumping off. I am sure they felt the thrill of destruction as the tractor leveled one Cabernet Franc vine after another before the trellising and guide wires entangled the beast, causing it to roll just before it made a run for the house at the bottom of the hill. The result? A totaled tractor and about a quarter acre of vines on the ground.

The fallen grapes were not quite ripe enough for a red wine, so instead they were whole-cluster pressed to make what we called a Vandal Rosé, and the rest, as they say, is history as this land on the edge of Carneros was to be forever known as The Vandal Vineyard.