One surprising development emerged when I was putting the selections together for my current four-week series of wines recommended for the holidays (see last Saturday’s collection of sparkling recommendations). In Europe we have become used to the idea that, with certain big-brand exceptions, California wine is expensive – too expensive for us. But in my forthcoming collection of recommended, good-value whites tomorrow and reds a week tomorrow are a surprising number of sensibly priced wines from California.
One of them is a really excellent 2019 Grenache from an impeccable vineyard source made by the producer of today’s wine of the week. To whet your appetite are two vintages of the wine this newish producer calls its ‘Village’ wine, their only blend: Newfound, Gravels 2021/22 California. The rest of the Newfound range are single-vineyard bottlings.
Newfound was founded in 2016 by Matt Naumann and Audra Chapman when they bought a 40-acre (16-ha) ranch in El Dorado County in the underestimated Sierra Foothills, old gold country. They’ve been working on this remote, steep site ever since and have only just picked their first grapes from an area of deep sand based on granite with veins of quartz. Today they have five acres (2 ha) of organic, dry-farmed vines surrounded by pine forest, planted mainly with Grenache plus a small amount of Syrah.
Matt became convinced of the potential for California Grenache in his early days in wine 20 years ago in Lodi. He shared accommodation with winemakers from southern France who showed him just how good their Grenache-based wines were. ‘I was taken with their ability to offer so much pleasure for the price’, he explained to me in an email. ‘I found that California, specifically Northern California, had very few examples that were intriguing, as Grenache has long been an afterthought or secondary niche for the majority of producers. I’m quite fond of Grenache and its potential in California, specifically in the warmer regions where it obviously has the ability to flourish. Stylistically, we’re focused on nuance and finesse – characters that are innate to Grenache but often-times under-represented in California. At the same time, ripeness is treated with equal importance as we’re still seeking full flavour potential.’
He went on to work at Neyers, then for a decade played an important part in Failla’s Fort Ross-Seaview vineyard and business, was next president/winemaker at Wade Cellars for Dwyane Wade and is currently winemaker for a Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc project called Le Carénage as well as his duties as farmer and winemaker for Newfound.
Audra is responsible for selling Newfound wines while managing marketing for a range of Napa and Sonoma wineries. Previously she managed hospitality for Jill and Steve Matthiasson.
He and Audra live in Napa, have a little tasting facility on Oak Avenue just off the main street in St Helena and lease space in a winery warehouse just outside Sonoma. It all sounds like quite a lot of driving to me.
In their first, 2018, vintage based on bought-in fruit, Newfound Gravels was 100% Grenache, and Elaine Chukan Brown’s wine of the week during lockdown, but they have started to incorporate portions of other southern Rhône varieties.
The Newfound, Gravels 2022 California blend includes 22% Carignane (as Carignan is spelled in California) and 14% Mourvèdre, but the main source of fruit is a young section of Grenache planted in the Cemetery vineyard in Ukiah, Mendocino County, owned by the city and located within the Russian River Cemetery. It has been farmed by the same (Colombini) family for more than 50 years. Some of the original vines started to show signs of virus so were replaced with Grenache in 2008 – most unusually for new vines as bush vines and dry-farmed. In the hot summer of 2022 these young Grenache wines were picked on 26 August and the wine was aged in neutral 600-litre demi-muids for 18 months before blending.
The Carignane came from the Colombini family’s own low-yielding, 75-year-old vines in Redwood Valley in Mendocino and was picked on 15 September. Darin Colombini is pictured above in the Cemetery vineyard. The fruit was aged separately in concrete for 18 months, while the Mourvèdre ingredient, from the cooler Placida vineyard near Sebastopol in Sonoma, wasn’t picked until 15 October and was aged in two neutral 500-litre casks. The California appellation is used to cover all possible vineyard sources.
The blend was assembled just before bottling without fining or filtration and just a ‘stablising’ dose of SO2. The wine, available at Jeroboams in the UK at £29.95 a bottle, is a pale, shaded garnet and on the palate is rich and rewarding. Layers of sweet fruit culminate in an appetisingly dry finish. I found it really fun to drink and positively lip-smacking in its elegance, despite its 14.1% alcohol. Much more like a Gredos Garnacha than an Aussie GSM (Grenache/Syrah/Mourvèdre) blend. A quote from the Newfound website: ‘We endeavour to take an individualistic approach and raise authentic wines that contain a naturally rugged edge and most importantly captures the voice of our vineyards.’
I suggest an ideal drinking window of 2024 to 2028.
The Newfound, Gravels 2021 is the vintage currently available from at least 11 fastidious retailers in the US, according to Wine-Searcher. The blend is made up of 66% Cemetery Grenache, 20% Grenache from Placida vineyard, 10% Mount Veeder Counoise and 4% Syrah from the famous Shake Ridge Vineyard, the one that supplied that 2019 Grenache referred to above and the inspiration for Alder’s paean of praise last June.
While the 2022 harvest lasted 50 days, their 2021 harvest lasted a mere 45. The Cemetery Grenache was picked on 21 August 2021, Counoise and Syrah were picked in early September and the Placida Grenache wasn’t picked until 8 October. The sugar levels at picking led to alcohol levels ranging from 13.2% to 14%.
The grapes were fermented spontaneously with 100% whole bunches with only light extraction ‘to prioritise nuance over weight, a hallmark of our approach’, according to Naumann, seen above in full pigeage mode. He says, ‘I’ve trialled destemming and feel that Grenache tends to lose its beautiful savoury/floral characters – qualities that I hope to retain in the wines.’ Large-format demi-muid, foudres and concrete are used for élevage for a period of 16 to 20 months on average. In the case of Gravels 2021, each lot was aged separately in a mix of 500- to 600-litre Stockinger oak barrels for 14 months, after which the blend was assembled and bottled, unfined and unfiltered.
Naumann describes his extraction regime for Rhône varieties thus:
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Lightly crush fruit (with stems) through crushers before dumping in tank with the intent to maximise the initial juice yield and also to avoid carbonic characters in the wine.
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One five-minute non-aerative cap irrigation per day during cuvaison (no punchdowns or pigeage ever during this period which lasts on average 30 days).
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One to two days prior to pressing I do one pigeage for final extraction.
The final alcoholic strength was 13.9%, a little lighter and fresher than the 2022. The nose is sweet and very Grenache. There’s great balance on the palate in a wine that’s just ripe for drinking now, though there’s a bite of fine tannin on the end that suggests it’s not going to fall off its perch in a hurry. It could be drunk without food and would be very versatile at the table but I wouldn’t suggest it for extremely hearty dishes.
This is a wine coming into its prime and I suggest an ideal drinking window of 2023 to 2027.
I’m grateful to Jeroboams buyer Martin Tickle for having introduced me to this worthwhile newish producer and look forward to tasting wine from the owners’ own vineyard in the Sierra Foothills (picture above behind Audra and Matt). But today’s wines of the week demonstrate what treasures can be found when keen winemakers are able to select and buy in grapes and rent winemaking space.
See also our many other articles extolling the virtues of Grenache.
