Clark Smith crafts ‘postmodern’ wines for the discerning consumer

In an ideal world, wine would be made from perfectly ripe grapes picked under optimum conditions –– warm, sunny days and cool nights. It would never rain during harvest or get too hot or too cold.

Ha! If only that rosy scenario were true 100% of the time. In reality, grapes may lack the sweetness or acidity levels to produce delicious wines in every vintage. And with rising temperatures, winegrowers may be tempted to pick early – before grapes are fully ripe.

Enter the winemaker.

Can winemakers bring forth a stunning 90+-rated product from crop failure? No, they’re not magicians. But they can use their skills, know-how, and modern technology to work with the various hands they’re dealt.

An innovator and inventor, Clark Smith is one such winemaker. He’s been in the wine business since the early 1970s when he dropped out of MIT and got a job in an Oakland, California wine shop. He completed the BS and MS programs at UC Davis and built R.H. Phillips, a California winery, in the ’90s. Through his consulting company, Vinovation, Smith invented and patented a use of reverse osmosis (RO) to reduce alcohol and to remove volatile acidity without harming the wine.

In the early ’90s, he began to question the theories he’d been taught at school and to focus on French winemaking aesthetics and techniques. He left California for a time to train with a winemaking consultant in Madiran, France.

“I felt I was making really good white wines and terrible reds, and this led me on a journey to rediscover what red wine itself actually is,” he states.

In the ongoing debate over how much a winemaker should intervene in the winemaking process, Smith falls squarely within the interventionist camp. He does stuff in the cellar – like micro-oxygenation (adding oxygen in small, measured amounts) and ultrafiltration (removing harsh tannins) – to build structure and control the taste and feel of his wines.

Yet ironically, he sounds like a naturalist, too. After stabilizing his wines, he avoids sterile filtration and the addition of sulphites. According to Smith, sulfur inhibits a wine’s natural immune system and prevents it from aging a long time. His “postmodern” winemaking philosophy is intended to free the winegrower to harvest at the peak of quality despite obstacles.

Though critics of his winemaking style paint him as “Dr. Evil” (Smith’s words), he sees himself as a chef who uses ingredients and techniques to create the right sauce.

“I find it interesting that consumers trust chefs, brewers and distillers but distrust winemakers,” he says.  

During the 2020 Wine Media Conference Virtual Summit, some of us had a chance to taste six of Smith’s wines produced under his boutique Wine Smith label. During and after the tasting, the winemaker graciously answered questions from bloggers. Smith’s comments below were edited for space and clarity.

(Please note that while the wines for this post were provided, opinions are my own.)

Q. Have you ever considered becoming a winemaker in France or elsewhere outside of California? If so, why did you choose to return/stay in California?

I wandered out here from MIT in 1971 partly because my Dad and I weren’t getting along and that was as far from Philadelphia as I could get without getting wet. Then I got a job as a clerk in a wine shop and just kind of fell into it. When I started making wine commercially in 1977, the Eurocentric style was all anybody did.

I have made a lot of wine in France, but I’m fundamentally an innovator, and that’s frowned upon in France. The AOC [Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée, a French classification system] rules close down what can be planted and how it can be made. It would be illegal for me to make Norton [a hybrid grape variety] anywhere in Europe.

Most of my vineyard connections go back a long time and my system is working pretty well. It takes several vintages to build up a following for an unusual wine, so starting over is difficult. Nonetheless, with the wildfires raging every year, I admit to being tempted to look elsewhere. Sometimes I daydream about places like New York and New Jersey where I grew up. There’s something happening in every U.S. state.

Q. How much of your wine is adjusted for high alcohol content?

A. About 45% of California wines by volume are alcohol-adjusted. This is about the same percentage as wines chaptalized [the process of adding sugar to fermenting grapes] in France in a typical vintage, which is just another form of alcohol adjustment, only up instead of down, because their air is humid and ours is dry.

I rarely use my invention. None of the wines you tasted made use of RO [reverse osmosis]. Many of my wines come in at low brix [sugar level] and end up below 13% alcohol. These include St. Laurent, Grenache, and Norton. If I do have a high brix, I simply add water to replace the evaporation to about 22.5 brix, which gives me about 13.2%.  

Inexperienced winemakers fear that diluting the must prior to fermentation will result in diluted flavors, but the opposite is true. Color molecules (anthocyanins) and flavor elements are not soluble in high alcohol, so they don’t extract. They need to form co-pigmentation colloids with other phenols we can get from untoasted oak chips or the skins of aromatic whites such as Viognier and Pinot Gris.  

Q. When and how do you use micro-oxygenation in your wines?

Micro-oxygenation is quite counter-intuitive. If you challenge a young red with oxygen, it behaves homeopathically and becomes more reductive [the opposite of oxidized; characterized by the smell of rubber, struck matches, or even sewage].

Secondly, despite common belief that sulfur dioxide is a reducing agent, it does in fact diminish the wine’s oxygen appetite 12-fold. So I don’t have oxidation problems with my sulfite-free reds but I do have reduction problems.

I used to worry about wines with reduction. Now I worry about wines that don’t have it. I feel it my duty as a winemaker of wines with serious price tags to make sure they have structural integrity and can cellar well. With some breathing, the 2014 Meritage can be quite enjoyable now, but it will be considerably better in another decade.

Q. Why do you add oak chips to your fermenting reds?

I can think of no more reprehensible act a winemaker can perform than to purchase a new French oak barrel and discard it for a planter after a single fill two or three years later. I love what barrels do for my wines, but flavoring the wine is the barrel’s least valuable act. Barrels have exhausted their positive flavors by year 4, but continue to impart green, parching tannins. This is why I haven’t bought a new barrel in over 20 years. I treasure my fully depleted barrels and hope they will outlive me.

A barrel stave that can become part of a piece of nail-less fine oak furniture leaves behind 75% of the good wood which, when cured and toasted with respect and close attention, can be a source of extractives of higher, more consistent quality than the random toasting a barrel receives in the process of bending its staves. Chips can be toasted with the same precision as coffee or malt, so a more reliably consistent series of products can be used when required.

Q. Do you feel your wines reflect their California terroir (the entire natural environment contributing to a wine’s character, including soil, topography, and climate)? Is terroir a viable concept/term? 

A. Terroir is a confusing term. In France, it simply means the character of a region or a specific property within it – synonymous with brand consistency. 

My experience is that we get regional character in our AVAs [American Viticultural Areas] without regulation. For example, if you smell lemons in a Cabernet or Petite Sirah, it’s either from Livermore or Oak Knoll. Paso Robles is tootsie roll – orange peel and cocoa. Russian River is black cherry. These characteristics trump winemaking choices.

There are a couple of AVA/varietal combinations that are understood. Amador Zinfandel is the Amarone of California, and should be raisiny, whereas Dry Creek Zin is like Bordeaux or Super-Tuscan wine, with refined structure and aging potential. 

When we learn how to talk about the difference between Viognier from Monticello, Sonoma Valley, North Yuba, and Snake River, we will be getting somewhere. 

Q. Should consumers care how their wine is made? Why or why not? 

A. It’s essential for everyone, basic to what winemakers are. Wine isn’t really much of a thirst quencher and doesn’t get consumed as a beverage so much as a source of profundity and romance. Thus people are and should be protective of its purity, its history, its provenance.

Scare tactics employed by neo-prohibitionists love to point to the poison of the month that wine contains, be it arsenic or sulfites or urea, and consumers will respond because they don’t know what to think or how to stay safe or who to trust. I guarantee you that winemakers feel much more deeply about these issues than consumers do, and they deserve your trust.

A Clark Smith wine tasting

2018 WineSmith Norton Yolo County, Herringer Estate Vineyards
100% Norton

Dr. Norton was a 19th century breeder who crossed a wild Virginia grape with an unknown parent. There are more than 500 Nortons throughout the United States, but according to Smith, this dense, Rhône-like grape is rarely planted in California. In Clarksburg, the long, warm summers are perfect for this variety.

Geeky stuff: Untoasted, air-cured oak chips used to extract color. Micro-oxygenation for three weeks before malolactic fermentation (conversion of harsh malic to soft lactic acid). Aged 18 months in 20-year old neutral French oak barrels.

My tasting notes: Deep purple in color. A nose full of blueberry with a touch of oakiness. On the tangy and spicy palate, I get blueberry upfront followed by black pepper on a long finish. Medium+ acidity. A bit tannic. Drink now or age for a few years. Alcohol: 12.9%. Price: $50.

Suggested pairings: Grilled meat smothered in tangy but not overly sweet barbecue sauce, deli meats, Cuban sandwiches.

2015 WineSmith Cabernet Franc Lake County
78% Cabernet Franc, 22% Merlot

Grapes are grown in a sunny, high altitude site on volcanic soils that force the vines to push their roots deep into the rock. The result is a lively mineral energy in the wine’s finish, according to Smith. Vineyards enjoy daily cooling breezes due to their proximity to Clear Lake, the largest lake in California.

Geeky stuff: Untoasted, air-cured oak chips used to extract color. Wine fermented traditionally with extended skin contact (10 days). Micro-oxygenation for three weeks before malolactic fermentation. Aged in neutral French oak for 66 months. Co-fermented with 22% Merlot “for roundness and fat.”  

My tasting notes: Dark ruby in color. Cherry and dark cherry on the nose with a hint of violet and ripe bell pepper when first opened. After a couple of days, the nose gets luscious – the bell pepper disappears and is replaced with chocolate and tobacco notes. On the palate, I get raspberry, dark cherry, and a dash of pepper. Tastes sweet (though the wine is dry) and has a satiny mouthfeel. Medium acidity. Mouth-coating on a long finish. Beautiful wine. Alcohol: 13.5%. Price: $40.

Suggested pairings: Grilled chicken, tofu and vegetable stir fry, turkey burgers.

2015 WineSmith Saint Laurent, Carneros/Sonoma County, Ricci Vineyard
100% Saint Laurent

This tightly clustered Austrian Zweigelt sibling doesn’t grow in humid climates susceptible to mold. It prefers high altitude and dry air with lots of sunshine.

Geeky stuff: Untoasted, air-cured oak chips used to extract color. Malolactic fermentation takes place in a neutral French oak barrel. Aged 27 months. Alcohol 11.8%. Price: $40.

My tasting notes: Pale ruby, almost violet in color. Raspberry, red currant, and a bit of violet on the nose. Red fruit continues on the palate with an earthiness suggestive of Pinot Noir. Low tannin. Medium+ acidity. Medium+ finish.

Suggested pairings: Sushi, paella, mushroom risotto.

2017 WineSmith Sparkling Grenache Blanc de Noirs Santa Cruz Mountains, Zero Brut
100% Red Grenache

“Champagne is a terrible place – too much acid and sugar,” Smith says. “But here in California we can take advantage of our lower acidities by bottling a ‘Brut Zero’ with no masking sugar at all, permitting the flavors and innate richness of the wine to come forward.”

Geeky stuff: Made in the méthode champenoise. Wine is disgorged after 13 months on the yeast. No dosage. Malolactic fermentation takes place in tank.

My tasting notes: Tangerine in color. Aromatic nose of blended apple, nectarine, and melon. Tingly palate is soft, dry but not tart, and tasting of apples and melon. Medium acid. Medium+ finish. Quaffable with or without food. My favorite of the samples. Alcohol: 12.5%. Average price: $60.

Suggested pairings: Shellfish, mild cheeses, green salad.

2014 WineSmith Roman Reserve Meritage Humboldt County, Ishi Pishi Vineyards
61% Merlot, 19% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Petit Verdot, 5% Malbec, 3% Cabernet Franc

Smith calls his barrel-aged Meritage a “fairly convincing” take on true Bordeaux. Grapes are from the Pierce family’s organic vineyard in northern California. According to the tech sheet, “the vineyard is nestled in a sheltered clearing surrounded by forested mountains with a rich red clayey loam soil that produces full ripeness at low brix.”

Geeky stuff: “We vinified the field blend without sulfites, stabilized the structure with discreet doses of oxygen, barreled down in neutral wood, and ignored it for more than five years where a complex microbial equilibrium was established.” Untoasted, air-dried chips used to extract color, 14-day skin contact, micro-oxygenation for six weeks before malolactic fermentation, 57 months in 20-year-old neutral French oak.

My tasting notes: Ruby in color. Blackberry, plum, and leather on the nose, followed by leather, charcoal, cloves, and cinnamon on the palate. Medium+ acidity. Medium+ finish. Grippy right now. Wine needs more oxygen and time to evaluate fully. Recommend cellaring for a few years and allowing it to open slowly. Alcohol: 12.8%. Price: $60.

Suggested pairings: Charcuterie, antipasto, grilled portabella mushrooms, steaks.

2017/2018 WineSmith Petit Manseng California
100% Petit Manseng (33% 2017 Hidden Springs Vineyard, Alexander Valley; 67% 2018 Novavine Nursey Vineyard, Yolo County)

Petit Manseng is primarily grown in southwest France. An obscure ancient grape in the Muscat family, it’s highly aromatic and naturally sweet on its own while retaining high acidity. Fermentation is stopped at 8% residual sugar, “producing a luscious dessert wine without the need for modern sterile filtration.”

Geeky stuff: Smith treats his Petit Manseng like a sherry. Every year, he adds some fresh juice and oxidizes the wine in a kind of “half-ass Solera.” Grapes are fermented in the presence of Acacia wood chips to add a honeysuckle element to the nose and some tannin structure to the mouth. Micro-oxygenation for three weeks before malolactic fermentation; 33% aged 18 months in neutral French oak.

My tasting notes: Straw in color. Flowery nose with butterscotch, almond, and apricot aromas. On the palate, it tastes like a caramel apple rolled in chopped peanuts but not cloying. Delicate, textured, and delicious. Hint of pineapple on a medium+ finish. Medium acidity. Alcohol: 12.9%. Price: $25 (375-ml bottle).

Suggested pairings: Light pastries, cannoli, macaroons, fruit, and nuts.