Tag: women winemakers

Carmenere and Petit Verdot with Meredith Smith

Winemaker Meredith Smith

We were given a case of wines from the Idaho Wine Commission as part of their efforts to let people know that there is not only wine in Idaho, but some very tasty wine, at that. 

Like many in her profession, Meredith Smith, winemaker at both Sawtooth Estate Winery and Ste Chapelle, actually did something else for a living before deciding she’d rather make wine.

“When I was about 36 years old, I was doing real estate development in Texas,” she said. “I had signed up through a Washington state viticulture program.”

She finished the program two years later, but it was another two years before she quit her job and started out at Sawtooth with a harvest job. Idaho attracted her because she had lived there and had been drinking wines from the region for some time. By the time her harvest job ended, she was the assistant winemaker, taking over as winemaker at Sawtooth in 2012, then adding winemaking at Ste Chappelle to her duties in 2016.

The two wines we got from the wine commission were Smith’s 2013 Trout Trilogy Carmenere from Sawtooth and the 2012 Petit Verdot from Ste Chapelle, two varieties that Smith says you wouldn’t think would do well in her relatively cool climate area, about 3,000 feet above sea level.

“Carmenere surprises me that it does well here,” she said, adding that carmenere and petit verdot are both late ripening varieties. “When I’m harvesting carmenere, it’s October 31, but for some reason it just seems to perform.”

Michael noted the carmenere’s dark color and got a fair amount of spice on the nose. The first taste was a little tart and mid-palate, there was a hint of bitterness. He also tasted some cherry flavor.

The thing is, it’s best as a food wine, but with either milder foods, such as roasted potatoes or vegetables, or something really strong like lamb.

As for the petit verdot, Michael noted the characteristic dark, inky color. The nose was filled with berries, and the taste had some oak, but the tannins were pretty low, making this more of a cocktail wine. It was pleasant, but didn’t really stand out.

Women Winemakers of Chablis, Part Three

Women winemaker, Chablis, white wine, French wine
Jean-Luc and Marie-Josee Fourrey

And here’s the next installment on the Women Winemakers of Chablis. Today, we’re featuring Marie-Josée Fourrey, of Domaine Fourrey, in the Chablis region of France. Chablis is also the delicious white wine made from the chardonnay grape (remember, European wines are usually named after where they’re made, rather than by what they’re made of). This series is from a group of email interviews with six women winemakers from the Chablis region, translated from the original French by someone else because Anne’s French is in terrible shape. We asked each woman the same three questions.

1)    What makes Chablis different from other wines made from chardonnay?

Chablis’ vineyard is located in the most northern part of Burgundy, giving us a climate which allows the wines to retain beautiful freshness. The other aspect is the richness of our soil which is a mix between marine sediments and clay/calcareous marl. The inclination of our hills provides our grapes with optimum amounts of sunshine, which is necessary for their full ripening.

2)    If my reader sees Chablis on the label of a bottle of wine, what should she expect to taste in the wine?

They should expect to taste a very subtle and elegant wine. There is no such thing as exuberance in Chablis, only refinement, freshness, delicate aromas and minerality.

3)   Finally, how are things changing for women winemakers in France? In the U.S., making wine is still very dominated by men. Are there more women becoming winemakers? Do women make wine differently than men, and if they do, what do they do that’s different?”

We are starting to see “Daughter and Father” Domains even in Burgundy! There even exists an association for women in the wine industry, in both Burgundy and at the national level.

The mechanization of the vineyard has developed a lot and we can see Domains with brothers and sisters, or sisters and sisters appearing.

I don’t know if women make wine differently than men, but we surely add a “feminine touch” that brings a little uniqueness to it.

Women Winemakers of Chablis, Part Two

women winemakers of chablis, white wine
Nathalie and Isabelle Oudin

And here’s the next installment on the Women Winemakers of Chablis. Today, we’re featuring Nathalie Oudin, of Domain Oudin, in the Chablis region of France. Chablis is also the delicious white wine made from the chardonnay grape (remember, European wines are usually named after where they’re made, rather than by what they’re made of). This series is from a group of email interviews with six women winemakers from the Chablis region, translated from the original French by someone else because Anne’s French is in terrible shape. We asked each woman the same three questions.

1)    What makes Chablis different from other wines made from chardonnay?

Nathalie: The northern climate and the calcareous soil of the Chablis region tend to make very unique and subtle wines, with delicate aromas.

2)    If my reader sees Chablis on the label of a bottle of wine, what should she expect to taste in the wine?

Nathalie: A dry and beautifully tensed chardonnay: the freshness of the aromas brought by the Chablis terroir makes it a unique wine. This wine is very light and whets your appetite.

3)   Finally, how are things changing for women winemakers in France? In the U.S., making wine is still very dominated by men. Are there more women becoming winemakers? Do women make wine differently than men, and if they do, what do they do that’s different?

Nathalie: People are evolving and opening up. Men who have taken over the domains are now less hard to work with than with previous generations. They have improved the work place by making work relations less intimidating. Although there are still a few big mouthed machos. 🙂

Theodora Lee and Theopolis Vineyards

Theodora Lee Talks about how she came to farm and make wine for her Theopolis Vineyards.

We had a grand time talking with Theodora Lee, owner and winemaker for Theopolis Vineyards at last summer’s Garagiste Festival. (By the way, if you get a chance to go to one, it’s well worth it and a lot of fun). We also loved Theodora’s wines. In fact, she talks about our two faves in the above video – transcription below.

I am Theadora Lee, I am the owner of Theopolis Vineyard, also known as a nickname, Theopatra, Queen of the Vineyards.

Q – How did you get into wines?

Well I moved to California in 1987 to practice law at Littler Mendelson. I’m a girl from Texas. I grew up driving a tractor. I bought a sheep farm in order to plant grapes because I wanted to do farming – grape farming as we would say it in Texas. And in 2012, my buyer – I’d been selling grapes to award-winning wineries since 2006. But in 2012, my buyer rejected my grapes because I had to pull at 24 brix instead of 27 brix

Q – So what did you do with the grapes?

I bottled my first wine in September of 2014 and it’s my petite syrah.

Q – Wow. That’s exciting.

And I got a gold from Sunset Magazine’s International Wine Competition.

Q – That’s impressive. Do you enjoy the experience of farming?

I wanted to be out in the country, getting my hands dirty. So I took a couple courses and U.C. Davis viticulture about the four seasons of growing. So I do the pruning. You know, I do bud break. I do all of the aspects of the farming and that’s what got me into the wine business. Now that I’m bottling the wine, I love the pleasure on folks’ face when they taste the wine. I’ve been specializing in the pleasure of the bottle since I was in high school making Wanda Punch.

Q – Tell us about your rose of petite syrah.

It’s a hundred percent petite syrah. It is rare that any fool would try to make a rose out of petite syrah. Because pettie syrah is one of the darkest, inkiest red grapes around. So, in order to make a rose, you basically have to take the skins off of the grapes early, early in the fermentation process and even after doing that, the rose is not pink. It is a ruby color. It has all the refreshing flavors of a rose. But it drinks like a red wine. It is a very aromatic, refreshingly brilliant rose. But it is extremely dry.

Q – You also make a Symphony wine. Tell us about that.

Symphony was created by Professor Olmo at Davis Viticulture School, and it’s a cross between muscat and grenache gris. And it is a dry version. Most people who make a symphony wine make an off-dry version. But I make all my wines dry. Bone dry. And let me tell you why. I grew up in Texas. If you’ve ever heard of muscadine wine. Muscadine is a grape that grows wild in the South. It is sweet and it tastes like cough syrup, it’s so sweet. And my daddy used to pick it wild on his farm. And he would make bootleg wine. As a little girl, you know, you’d sneak into your father’s cabinet and try to taste it. I tasted that wine and swore I would never drink wine again, ever in my life. Until I came to California and learned about dry wines

Amy Butler Talks about Carignan

This is another new venture for us at OddBallGrape.com – video!

We went to the 2014 Garagiste Festival in Pasa Robles and caught up with some amazing women in wine, not least of all was Amy Butler. We first ran across her at an Hospice du Rhone, back when she was working at Edward Sellars. Now, she’s the consulting winemaker at LXV (a post that will be coming soon) and has her own label, Ranchero Cellars.

Amy’s big thing is the carignan grape (also spelled carignane). We’ll let you look at the video to tell you why. We’ve tasted the wine and it was awesome!