Kick Ranch– One ranch, 13 producers.

Last night I had the excellent opportunity to attend a tasting featuring every vintner making wine from Kick Ranch.  I, being one of the thirteen, provided a 2007 barrel sample like everyone else.  Then, we all tasted each others efforts.  A few things really stuck out.

1.  There are  lot of really good winemakers making Syrah right now.

2.  Kick Ranch, now going into its 7th year of production, is growing better fruit than ever.

3.  That ripeness being pushed to the envelope is successful based on the winemaker.

4.  That despite the vastly different ways the fruit is being handled, Kick Ranch grows some pretty distinctive, plush, Syrah.

5.  That clonal preferences are interesting.  My favorite, the 470, is Paul Hobbs least favorite.  Some love the 174, others are less fond of it.  What is amazing is that 5 clones– Hermitage, 470, 174, 383, and 470 are grown and can be experimented with.

6.  Expect to see a lot of excellent wines coming from the ranch for a long time to come as all of us have signed three year contracts for fruit.  In my case, I am contracted for a ton each of clones 383, 470, and 877 along with a few hundred pounds of Viognier for co-fermentation purposes.

I know that it is probably not kosher to say which wines I liked and which I did not, particularly based on barrel samples of wines that very recently finished ML.  That said, the internal style, the acid-fruit-sugar(in some cases) balance, i.e. the skeletal structure of the wines were already apparent.  Also, some were showing some serious oak already.

My favorites were the wines being crafted by Renard, Shane Wines and Enkidu–  All of which had really nice fruit/acid balance and were not showing heavy oaking this early in the wines life.

There were a number of wines that I thought were excellently crafted but were not made in a style I particularly enjoy– these wines were made by Paul Hobbs and Sanglier.  That said, I think the Sanglier may have been taken out of a new Remond barrel which may have thrown the oak over the top.

Then, there was the unpleasant, which was unsurprisingly Rosenblum.  Goopy and sweet the 2007 was massively aldehydic and smelled of superfood (possible refermentation?).  The 2006 smelled distinctly of roasted beets.  Most annoying is that it was the only wine that could not be distinguised as “Kick Ranch.”  Rather, one would reach that it was Syrah merely by product of elimination, not by any positive Syrah characteristics.

Other wines poured were Carica (Dick Keenan), Moonlight Cellars, Lynmar, and others.  All of which showed the pretty dark fruits, good tannin structure, and general richness that is typical of the ranch.

In attendance was also the newest heavy-hitting producer who will take his first fruit this year, Les Behrens of Erna Schein (formerly Behrens and Hitchcock).  Not in attendance was John Eppler of JRE Cellars.

It was interesting talking to Chris Sawyer, a local sommelier and wine-writer, who attended the event as well.  Bearing in mind that Kick Ranch belongs to no AVA other than Sonoma County (it is wedged between Sonoma Valley, Russian River Valley, and Sonoma Coast), he feels that it should be granted monopole status.  A Chalone-like AVA anyone?

Since you are on this site you may be asking how the Bedrock Wine Co. effort showed in comparison to the rest.  I received a number of complements on how feminine and “French” the wine was.  Chris Sawyer said it smelled like Cote-Rotie.  All of which I choose to take as a complement.  I do know that the Bedrock, in my opinion, showed the most lift and brightness along with the most perfume.  That said, I was the only one to co-ferment with Viognier which is like injecting a little Catherine Deneuve into any Syrah.  It did make me happy at the end of the night though that I could easily pick out my wine blind based on differences that I strive for– i.e. perfume, elegance, and ability to pair with food.

That said, I would happily crack any number of the excellent wines being made from Kick Ranch, which will soon take its place next to Bien Nacido and Hudson vineyards as a prime source of excellent Syrah.