Tag Archives: Foley Wine Group

60 Second Wine Review — Sea Smoke Southing Pinot noir

A few quick thoughts on the 2014 Sea Smoke Southing Pinot noir from the Santa Rita Hills.

The Geekery

Sea Smoke Southing Pinot noir

Bob Davids founded Sea Smoke in 1999, planting over 100 acres on south-facing bluffs overlooking the Santa Ynez River. The name comes from the cool Pacific fog that funnels into the Santa Rita Hills each day and tempers the ripening of the vines.

In 2016, Sea Smoke acquired the neighboring Rita’s Crown Vineyard which allowed them to expand their holdings to 144 acres of mostly Pinot noir planted to 10 different clones. Focusing exclusively on estate production, Sea Smoke sells a limited amount of grapes to other wineries such as Foxen and Brewer-Clifton.

Until 2008, Sea Smoke’s winemaker was Kris Curran. When she left to join the Foley Wine Group, her assistant, Don Schroeder, took over winemaking and is still in charge today.

The 2014 Southing is sourced from Sea Smoke’s estate vineyard that has been biodynamic since 2013. The wine was aged 16 months in French oak barrels (55% new).

Across all their wines, around 13,000 cases a year are produced.

The Wine

Photo by Takeaway. Uploaded to Wikimedia commons under CC-BY-SA-4.0

The overt oak and chocolate espresso notes dominate this Pinot.

Medium-plus intensity nose. Noticeable oak vanilla and chocolate espresso notes. Underneath is some dark fruits–black cherry and plum. Smells more Merlot-like than Pinot.

On the palate, the oak certainly carries through with baking spices of clove and nutmeg joining the vanilla, chocolate and toast. Medium acidity gives some lift to the full-bodied fruit but not enough to balance the sense of sweetness. Ripe medium-plus tannins are very velvety. Long finish lingers on the oak, particularly the chocolate espresso flavors.

The Verdict

I fell in love with Sea Smoke’s wines ten years ago and was excited to join their mailing list. But, unfortunately, these last few vintage releases have been underwhelming and I’m going to leave their list soon.

Only the color would keep me from thinking this was a Merlot. While this 2014 Southing would be a decent $40-60 Napa Merlot, it’s not quite what I’m looking for in an $80-100 Pinot noir.

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60 Second Wine Review — 2012 Mark Herold Brown Label

A few quick thoughts on the 2012 Mark Herold Brown Label Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.

The Geekery

Mark Herold got his start in the wine industry as a research enologist for Joseph Phelps before founding Merus in 1998 in his garage with his then wife, Erika Gottl. Jim Gordon notes in Opus Vino, that over the next 10 years Herold turned his small 1500 case production of Merus into one of the most acclaimed wines in Napa. In 2007, Merus was sold to Foley Wine Group with Herold leaving the following year as Camille Benitah and Paul Hobbs took over winemaking.

After leaving Merus, Herold continued consulting at estates like Buccella, Celani Family, Kamen, Kobalt, Harris, Hestan and Maze. As part of a divorce settlement and non-compete, he agreed not to make any Cabernet Sauvignon under his own label until 2010.

According to Barnivore, Mark Herold Wines are vegan-friendly. The 2012 Brown Label is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon with around 575 cases made.

The Wine

Medium-plus intensity nose. Lots of sweet oak spices and vanilla. Rich dark fruit–currants, blackberries. There is also a smokey, roasted coffee element to the nose as well.

On the palate, the wine is very big and full-bodied with medium-plus acidity and medium-plus tannins. The dark fruits carry through but the oak still dominants with the vanilla adding a lushness that rounds out the tannic edge. I wished the coffee note carried through with the smokey element instead being more toasted wood on the palate instead of roasted coffee. Moderate length finished.

Photo by Paolo Neo. Released on Wikimedia Commons under Public Domain

Rich dark fruits like black currant and oak are abundant in this Cab.

The Verdict

The 2012 Mark Herold Brown Label falls in line with your classic big, bold Napa Cabs that have noticeable oak. Though while it does have rich dark fruit and vanilla lusciousness, it is a bit better balanced than most of its peers with the tannins keeping it from being sweet and the acidity bringing freshness.

At around $95-110, it is very much in line with wines from estates like Cakebread, Silver Oak, Frank Family and Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars.

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