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The Perfect Red
We love day drinking glouglou as much as anyone else (or maybe slightly more) but sometimes you need to sit down and drink a bottle of wine with a proper dinner at home on any given weeknight. Something fresh and crunchy, but with a bit more structure. Nothing too fancy mind you: think hanger steak and green salad rather than dry-aged beef and lobster tails.
The original Perfect Red came from a happy accident in one of Michel Théron’s (Clos du Jaugueyron) vineyards and led to a Clairet-style bottling dubbed ‘Le Rouge Parfait’ in 2018. With this kind of Tuesday night drinking in mind, we decided to keep bottling Perfect Reds as we came across them, first in Chris Brockway’s Berkeley cellar and later in the Douro at Mateus Nicolau De Almeida’s.
As with all of our wines, rest assured that these are all made with organic fruit, fermented with native yeasts, and have little to no added sulfur, just the way we like them. So, here's to natty wine not always being iridescent, steak wine not always being expensive, and to always having The Perfect Red for any occasion.
The original Perfect Red came from a happy accident in one of Michel Théron’s (Clos du Jaugueyron) vineyards and led to a Clairet-style bottling dubbed ‘Le Rouge Parfait’ in 2018. With this kind of Tuesday night drinking in mind, we decided to keep bottling Perfect Reds as we came across them, first in Chris Brockway’s Berkeley cellar and later in the Douro at Mateus Nicolau De Almeida’s.
As with all of our wines, rest assured that these are all made with organic fruit, fermented with native yeasts, and have little to no added sulfur, just the way we like them. So, here's to natty wine not always being iridescent, steak wine not always being expensive, and to always having The Perfect Red for any occasion.
CURRENT RELEASES
Producer: Mateus Nicolau de Almeida
Varieties: Tinto Roriz, Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Barroca, Malvasia Fina (Field Blend of white and red grapes)
Location: Baixo Corgo, Douro, Portugal
Notes: 10 days of maceration with very few pump-overs, fermented and aged entirely in tank. A small dose of SO2 at bottling, approx. 20ppm
Mateus is the fifth generation of the Nicolau de Almeida family to produce wine in the Douro. Together with his wife, Teresa Ameztoy, they work in a wine cellar they call Shad’s Winery (Alosa Alosa), named after the fish that crossed the Douro River from the Atlantic Ocean, a reality impossible today due to the construction of the dams. In this cellar, they give us different perspectives and approaches to the vineyard and wine, based on organic and biodynamic farming.
Varieties: Tinto Roriz, Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Barroca, Malvasia Fina (Field Blend of white and red grapes)
Location: Baixo Corgo, Douro, Portugal
Notes: 10 days of maceration with very few pump-overs, fermented and aged entirely in tank. A small dose of SO2 at bottling, approx. 20ppm
Mateus is the fifth generation of the Nicolau de Almeida family to produce wine in the Douro. Together with his wife, Teresa Ameztoy, they work in a wine cellar they call Shad’s Winery (Alosa Alosa), named after the fish that crossed the Douro River from the Atlantic Ocean, a reality impossible today due to the construction of the dams. In this cellar, they give us different perspectives and approaches to the vineyard and wine, based on organic and biodynamic farming.
Producer: Broc Cellars
Varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc
Location: California
From Broc Cellars: This Cabernet Sauvignon is a fresher style than other Cab representations. We harvest the grapes at lower brix compared to neighboring Napa Valley to help highlight the style we prefer and keep it fairly simple in the cellar. This vintage is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, a combination that provides a delicious balance of dark fruits and soft tannins. Most of the Cabernet Sauvignon grapes were destemmed with the remaining grapes left whole cluster. We fermented with native yeast and pressed early to lessen the amount of tannins in the wine.
Varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc
Location: California
From Broc Cellars: This Cabernet Sauvignon is a fresher style than other Cab representations. We harvest the grapes at lower brix compared to neighboring Napa Valley to help highlight the style we prefer and keep it fairly simple in the cellar. This vintage is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, a combination that provides a delicious balance of dark fruits and soft tannins. Most of the Cabernet Sauvignon grapes were destemmed with the remaining grapes left whole cluster. We fermented with native yeast and pressed early to lessen the amount of tannins in the wine.
PAST CUVEES
Producer: Broc Cellars
Varieties: 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon Rosé
Location: Wirth Ranch, Solano County Green Valley, CA
Notes: We pick at lower brix compared to neighboring Napa Valley to highlight a fresher style of Cabernet Sauvignon. We keep it fairly simple in the cellar. 90% of the Cabernet Sauvignon grapes were destemmed and the remaining we left whole cluster to line the bottom of the tank.
Fermented with native yeast and no S02 and pressed early to lessen the amount of tannins in the wine.
For this year’s release we made rosé from the same Cabernet vines from Wirth Ranch to add to the wine, making more of a lighter clairet style. The grapes for the rosé were foot stomped and left on the skins for 24 hours, then pressed into stainless tank.
Varieties: 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon Rosé
Location: Wirth Ranch, Solano County Green Valley, CA
Notes: We pick at lower brix compared to neighboring Napa Valley to highlight a fresher style of Cabernet Sauvignon. We keep it fairly simple in the cellar. 90% of the Cabernet Sauvignon grapes were destemmed and the remaining we left whole cluster to line the bottom of the tank.
Fermented with native yeast and no S02 and pressed early to lessen the amount of tannins in the wine.
For this year’s release we made rosé from the same Cabernet vines from Wirth Ranch to add to the wine, making more of a lighter clairet style. The grapes for the rosé were foot stomped and left on the skins for 24 hours, then pressed into stainless tank.
INTERVIEW W/ CHRS BROCKWAY ABOUT THE "PERFECT RED"
Selection Massale: Can you talk a little bit about how you approach making the "perfect red" and how it changes (or not) over the vintages?
Chris Brockway: I interpret “perfect red” as to what I think the name is supposed to mean. Something that’s easy to drink but has enough complexity to elevate the wine. Not really going for a cliche, a wine “over-delivers” for what the wines costs, but to be something that’s affordable and “perfect” for what it is and how it’s priced.
In chasing this metaphysical (in the philosophical sense) “perfect red” my perception of it has changed over each vintage as I don’t perceive there's an objective "perfect red” floating out there but something that’s subjective person to person. As this has evolved over the last few years, we’ve started adding some Cabernet rosé to the red (a reverse saigneé?) to balance the wine more approachable while young.
SM: Now two decades into making wine in CA, have there been any shifts in the way you approach red wines in general?
CB: I think one thing I touched on when you were visiting last was after the 2020 fires, we are now more apprehensive about letting some grapes hang on the vine. Now we tend to pick some grapes earlier, plant or graft vines that can be picked earlier due to concerns with fires and fire season. It definitely carried over to how we make some of the wines. Picking a little earlier, even for us, making some wines a little lighter than we already make them. Leaving others to hang on the vine that needs that extra amount of time but hedging our bets so to speak.
Overall, there’s definitely been a shift away from having predominantly red wines. Whether fermenting white grapes with reds, making more different types and styles of whites and rosés. Having more skin-fermented white wines that have some of the same structure as reds or darker rosés that blur the line with light reds.
SM: I like to think there is something tongue and cheek about the idea of the perfect red. When you think of making something 'perfect' do you think about making it approachable to many or more of a representation of the ideal?
CB: I definitely agree there is something tongue and cheek about the idea of the perfect red. As I touched on above there is also something philosophical about the idea of the perfect red that I really like as well. Because is there such a thing as a perfect red…. no. But we can have something that’s approachable, that’s grown correctly, made authentically, and within the context of wine is affordable.
SM: Tannins -- where did they go?! Do you think more structured reds will become more in vogue as the pendulum swings back from glouglou?
CB: Hopefully the pendulum more balances than swings. I remember drinking a bottle of Pepiere Cab Franc Rosé with Guilhaume at now-shuttered Bar Agricole many years back. I’m not sure if he still thinks this but at the time, he felt rosé wines gives one a true sense of terroir. But I do think there is a place for lighter wines, not just for glou glou but also to convey a very transparent sense of place. But just like some wines/grapes/terroirs might make better lighter style wines as opposed to something approaching full extraction. There is obviously the opposite as well where a variety grown in a certain terroir reaches its full potential as a fully macerated wine. I find this to be true of our Nero d’Avola from Fox Hill Vineyard in Mendocino. It makes a really nice rosé on years where we have really good yields, but it reaches its full potential when fermented on the skins for an extended period of time to really have those tannins contribute to the overall wine. There's a time, or more so a place for everything.
SM: How long have you been working with the Wirth Ranch, and can you talk a bit about your relationship with growers impacts the wines?
CB: I’ve been working with Wirth Ranch since 2011. We now get 100% of the vineyard (Cab Sauv, Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Valdiguie, Trousseau Noir, Syrah) with the idea that the whole vineyard is now converted to organic farming as opposed to just certain blocks. It’s a longer view with the vineyard and we still have much work to do getting older sections back in good condition. So hopefully each year shows the hard work, but we still have much that needs to be done as we both learn.
Chris Brockway: I interpret “perfect red” as to what I think the name is supposed to mean. Something that’s easy to drink but has enough complexity to elevate the wine. Not really going for a cliche, a wine “over-delivers” for what the wines costs, but to be something that’s affordable and “perfect” for what it is and how it’s priced.
In chasing this metaphysical (in the philosophical sense) “perfect red” my perception of it has changed over each vintage as I don’t perceive there's an objective "perfect red” floating out there but something that’s subjective person to person. As this has evolved over the last few years, we’ve started adding some Cabernet rosé to the red (a reverse saigneé?) to balance the wine more approachable while young.
SM: Now two decades into making wine in CA, have there been any shifts in the way you approach red wines in general?
CB: I think one thing I touched on when you were visiting last was after the 2020 fires, we are now more apprehensive about letting some grapes hang on the vine. Now we tend to pick some grapes earlier, plant or graft vines that can be picked earlier due to concerns with fires and fire season. It definitely carried over to how we make some of the wines. Picking a little earlier, even for us, making some wines a little lighter than we already make them. Leaving others to hang on the vine that needs that extra amount of time but hedging our bets so to speak.
Overall, there’s definitely been a shift away from having predominantly red wines. Whether fermenting white grapes with reds, making more different types and styles of whites and rosés. Having more skin-fermented white wines that have some of the same structure as reds or darker rosés that blur the line with light reds.
SM: I like to think there is something tongue and cheek about the idea of the perfect red. When you think of making something 'perfect' do you think about making it approachable to many or more of a representation of the ideal?
CB: I definitely agree there is something tongue and cheek about the idea of the perfect red. As I touched on above there is also something philosophical about the idea of the perfect red that I really like as well. Because is there such a thing as a perfect red…. no. But we can have something that’s approachable, that’s grown correctly, made authentically, and within the context of wine is affordable.
SM: Tannins -- where did they go?! Do you think more structured reds will become more in vogue as the pendulum swings back from glouglou?
CB: Hopefully the pendulum more balances than swings. I remember drinking a bottle of Pepiere Cab Franc Rosé with Guilhaume at now-shuttered Bar Agricole many years back. I’m not sure if he still thinks this but at the time, he felt rosé wines gives one a true sense of terroir. But I do think there is a place for lighter wines, not just for glou glou but also to convey a very transparent sense of place. But just like some wines/grapes/terroirs might make better lighter style wines as opposed to something approaching full extraction. There is obviously the opposite as well where a variety grown in a certain terroir reaches its full potential as a fully macerated wine. I find this to be true of our Nero d’Avola from Fox Hill Vineyard in Mendocino. It makes a really nice rosé on years where we have really good yields, but it reaches its full potential when fermented on the skins for an extended period of time to really have those tannins contribute to the overall wine. There's a time, or more so a place for everything.
SM: How long have you been working with the Wirth Ranch, and can you talk a bit about your relationship with growers impacts the wines?
CB: I’ve been working with Wirth Ranch since 2011. We now get 100% of the vineyard (Cab Sauv, Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Valdiguie, Trousseau Noir, Syrah) with the idea that the whole vineyard is now converted to organic farming as opposed to just certain blocks. It’s a longer view with the vineyard and we still have much work to do getting older sections back in good condition. So hopefully each year shows the hard work, but we still have much that needs to be done as we both learn.