Spring 2021: Filomena Wine Co. Spring Release!

Hello everyone!

To both new and returning mailing list members, we welcome you with open arms and full bottles, nice to virtually see you all again (certainly a trend over the last year). It has undoubtedly been a year full of both victories and losses, but most importantly, it has been one of change; personal, societal, climactic, and economical. I am happy to report that through the seemingly endless ups and downs of the previous 12 months, we have new wines to share with you all, our friends and supporters. There was enough drama and exposition in 2020 to last a lifetime, so let’s get straight to business.

2016 Griffin's Lair Vineyard Syrah

My second bout with Griffin’s Lair Syrah was a basic lesson in Pick Decision 101, showing how much difference picking before or after a heat spike can make. You can see the effects one way or the other throughout the wine’s entire lifetime, from fermentation to cork pop. Back in 2015, we waited until after a heat spike in early September to pick; the sugar numbers were just a touch too low and the flavors just weren’t quite where we wanted them to be. We waited until after the heat to pick and though the wine had every bit of the Griffin’s savory aromas and mouthfeel, it also showed characteristics that reflected that decision; slightly juicier, higher alcohol, and lifted, higher-toned aromatics.

This time around, in 2016, the summer weather was mild, allowing for flavors to accumulate over a longer period of time to a point where we decided that picking before the heat spike towards the end of September. The sugar was markedly lower than the previous year (a full percentage point lower in finished alcohol), but the fruit looked and tasted outstanding, so we made the call to pick.

I handled the fruit similarly as before in the winery: 100% whole cluster foot-trod, indigenous yeast fermentation, and a couple weeks of extended maceration before pressing and barreling down to a neutral 600L demi-muid. There it remained for 18 months before being bottled and resting for another 3 years. The resulting wine is beautiful, the culmination of near-perfect conditions and just letting what Mother Nature provided us with to speak in a liquid tongue. Black pepper, soy, brown sugar, and tapenade envelop the nose at first sniff while black cherry, bacon, and pepper dance across your tastebuds, allowing the resolved tannins to usher your senses to the finish line. This will be quite an obscure reference, but if you have ever had the pleasure of tasting the Pastrami Fried Rice from Mission Chinese in San Francisco, you have tasted this wine before, a trip down Umami Lane.

The wine expectedly softens as it decants, bringing more of the fruit forward on the palate, revealing a beautifully balanced wine. A lot of people understandably like to compare their meaty, cold-climate Syrahs from the New World to their favorite Rhone producer. Hell, I’m absolutely guilty of that. It’s only natural to strive to be even mentioned in the same breath of the Rhone greats. That all being said, I feel as though this wine is quintessentially Petaluma Gap, nuanced with a delicate balance of spice and fruit that I’ve rarely seen elsewhere. I salute Griffin’s Lair and Mother Nature for allowing me to be a simple middleman and bring this wine to you. $42/bottle

2019 Ricci Vineyard St. Laurent

In contrast to the almost brooding flavors Griffin’s Lair Syrah, our second dance with Ricci St. Laurent is bright and welcoming in the glass. As fickle of a grape as it’s mother (or father, who’s to say), Pinot Noir, St. Laurent can be extremely mellow and subdued throughout fermentation and elevage (barrel aging), only really becoming expressive with some time in bottle. It produces delicate wine that is highly impressionable to winemaker decisions and inputs; a trend that can very much be seen in this year’s iteration of Ricci St. Laurent.

I decided to make some slight variations in 2019 compared to the 2018 version of this wine. First off, the grapes were able to develop flavors on the vine a touch longer this vintage, with the harvested brix being one full unit higher than the previous year. I also received a bit more fruit this year so the stem inclusion in the ferment went from 50% to 33%. I still employed partial carbonic for about 4-5 days and let the ferment start with indigenous yeast. The grapes were pressed at dryness and went to barrel a few days later.

A friend and former roommate of mine, Kevin Farrow, had also been making wines for his own label (shout out Filaments Wine!) and just so happened to have an empty new 400L French oak puncheon from the Boutes cooperage. I thought that the riper flavors the 2019 was showing at the end of fermentation would play really well with a bit of new oak so I asked Kev what his plan was with the extra barrel. Luckily, he was looking for some wine to season the barrel with in order to pull some of the stronger new oak flavors out before aging his own wines in it the following years. Well, teamwork makes the dream work I always say and I was more than happy to experiment with my St. Laurent for both of our benefit. The wine sat cozily in the new oak puncheon as well as two stainless steel drums for 9 months before going to bottle in the summer of 2020.

The 2019 Ricci is much more fruit forward than its predecessor. Cranberry, cinnamon, bergamot, and the slightest touch of vanilla (oh, hey new oak) tickle the nostrils. The palate is full of bright cherries with the oak showing its face towards the back, lingering on the finish. Low tannins and medium to high acid, this wine is ready to go so don’t be shy about popping corks. I expect the baking spices and more subtle oak flavors to wake up as the wine ages. Another delicious chapter in the Filomena/Ricci notebook. $24/bottle

2020 Enz Vineyard Cabernet Pfeffer Rosé

Known in and originally hailing from the Bordeaux region of France as Mourtaou, Cabernet Pfeffer is a rare gem of a grape in California. It is almost entirely planted in the Cienega Valley just southwest of Hollister on the eastern side of the Gabilan mountain range. The two most well-known vineyards in the area, Enz and Wirz, both have Cab Pfeffer planted on their respective properties. Both the dramatic diurnal temperature shift as well as the large chunks of limestone in the soil spawned wines with razor acidity and well-developed savory flavors. Having tried a number of bottles from various wineries sourcing fruit from Enz, as well as previously working with the Zin, Mourvedre, and Cab Pfeffer, I’d long had my eye on the astutely named Lime Kiln Valley AVA. I badly wanted to work with the fruit and the acid levels of the wines as well as long ripening windows all but screamed rosé at me, most intriguingly, with the Cabernet Pfeffer. I had certainly seen the quality of red wine the Cab Pfeffer produced before. It was simply loaded with dark fruit and white pepper (Pfeffer does mean “pepper” in German after all) with unusually low pHs (aka higher acid) that made the wine fresh and bright, but finnicky, looming tannins that took time to mellow. Well, what if you take the skins and tannin issue out of the picture and make a rosé out of it? Now we’re talkin’.

In order to see my plan come to fruition (heh), I proceeded to bug Ian Brand, who managed Enz at the time (and just so happens to make delicious wines from there as well), about the Cab Pfeffer’s availability during the growing season, making my desire to work with the fruit very clear. Ian’s answer was always a, “love to get you some Pfeffer, but we’ll see how the growing season progresses”-type response from the very busy winemaker and vineyard manager. It wasn’t until about a week out from other wineries’ pick date that I learned I’d be getting some Pfeffer of my very own. Rosé promised land, here I come.

After a VERY long day finding the vineyard in the pitch black at 5 AM, being at the pick, and driving back up to Sonoma through the everlasting traffic zone of the 680 corridor, I finally got my Pfeffer babies into the winery that evening. I decided to foot stomp the bins and let them soak on the skins overnight to pick up a little extra color and spice. The grapes were whole cluster pressed the following morning and went to tank to cold settle. After taking some sugar and acid readings (22.3 brix and 3.3 pH oooooowee!), I racked the juice off the heavy lees a few days later and let the indigenous yeast work their magic while keeping it at 55-60 degrees Fahrenheit in tank.

Now, if you ask most winemakers what the most delicious thing is during harvest, only trust the ones who say mid-ferm rosé with a little bit of tequila thrown in, the Mid-Ferm Paloma as I like to call it. Stone fruit, citrus, and tropical flavors exploded out of the glass during fermentation and every day the savory notes on the nose and back of the palate would slowly creep into focus. The wine remained in tank for 4 months before being bottled this past February. Grapefruit, melon, white pepper, and rose petal lead the way on the nose with the citrus remaining on the palate along with some ripping acidity and minerality. Those are complemented well by the savory finish on the back, only more apparent the longer the bottle stays open. Though the speed at which these bottles are emptied in our house usually prevents that from happening. This wine is fun, it’s delicious, and we can’t stop drinking it. $22/bottle

My sincerest apologies for rambling on to you guys, that got long. The truth is, I’m really proud of these wines. They are damn delicious and I’ve been waiting not so patiently to bring them all to you. I hope you all get as many bottles of Filomena as you can get your hands on and that they bring you as much joy drinking them as we had making them!

All wines are sold on a first come, first served basis. There are no allocations or limits per customer. The release is three weeks long, closing on Tuesday, April 27th at 10pm PST. Orders will begin shipping as early as April 10th and will continue to ship out as orders flow through.  We will be hosting two non-contact Saturday pickup days in Novato on May 1st and May 8th.  If you select the pickup option upon checkout, you will receive a follow-up email where you'll select the date and time slot that works best for you.  We do have a limited supply of wines from last year's release on the "Library Wines" tab if you'd like to revisit any of those as well! Thank you all for you amazing support!
 

Cheers & Love,
Luke, Kat, & Kuma

PS – We also want to celebrate another love/obsession that we (mostly Luke) picked up during the pandemic, golf! To that end, any purchase of a case or more will get a sleeve (3) of Filomena branded Pro-V1s added to their order for free! FORE RIGHT!

Spring 2020: Food Pairings & Serving Tips

Many people have been asking for recommended pairings of the wines, so we wanted to share a few recipes we have enjoyed along with both the Syrah and the St. Laurent. And honestly who isn’t looking for new recipe ideas right now, right?

2015 Griffin’s Lair Syrah

The bold pepperiness and dark fruit of the Syrah needs something equally bold to stand up to it, which is why we recommend pairing it with steak, pork or lamb. This Ottolenghi recipe is one of our favorites, as the spice combinations are so unique but pair really nicely with the lamb and the pepper from the whole cluster in the Syrah. 

Another great pairing with the Griffin’s Lair Syrah is Grilled Hanger Steak with Bacon Chimichurri with roasted potatoes sprinkled with a little truffle salt just before serving. We usually enjoy this along with a simple green salad tossed with aged balsamic vinegar (this is our favorite, but be careful--it's addicting!), olive oil, salt and pepper.

2018 Ricci Vineyards St. Laurent

The bright fruit and acid of this wine pairs nicely with anything rich and creamy. We recently enjoyed the St. Laurent with an Instant Pot Mushroom Risotto with Pancetta, Peas and Mushrooms and our favorite roasted chicken recipe from Ina Garten. If you have never had cooked radishes before you will be amazed at how delicious they are--especially cooked in all the yummy chicken fat!

Serving Tips

We have also been asked about recommendations on aging and decanting.  In regards to aging, the Syrah has been aging in bottle for 3 years already, so it is drinking nicely right now. It will continue to evolve, however, if you chose to age it a bit longer as well. In preparing notes for this release, we were opening the Syrah about a couple hours before dinner. Alternatively, decanting for at least 30 min to an hour seems to do the trick.

The St. Laurent is tasting lovely should you want to pop the cork right now. We see it dropping a little fresh fruit as it ages (obviously), but also see the acid and tannin from the stems carrying it quite well into maturity, think more spice and savory notes. We tossed our pre-release tasting bottle in the fridge for just about 10 minutes to get it down to “cellar temp” (~55 degrees) and enjoyed watching it evolve as it warmed back up in our glasses throughout the evening.

Spring 2020: Fist-Ever Filomena Wine Co. Release!

4.7.2020 Release Letter 

Hello everyone!

Welcome to the inaugural release of Filomena Wine Company. This has been years and years in the making (you’ll notice my logo says “Est. 2014”). Thank you all for being patient and supportive, it has been quite the journey. A journey of which I think the women whose names grace these wine bottles would be proud. My nona (grandma), Elaine Filomena Baratte, played an immeasurable role in my upbringing; as I’m sure her nona, Filomena Pedrazzi, did for her. I wanted to honor them in whatever small way I could with my label, which is why I named it “Filomena Wine Company”. The logo was also inspired by my nona’s handwriting (shout-out to designer Justin Wood). 

For those interested, there are expanded stories of the vineyards and how I started working with their respective grapes in the “Vineyard” tab of our website. Read a bit about the wines on this release below and enjoy!

2015 Griffin’s Lair Syrah

I have had quite a long history and journey with Griffin’s Lair, relatively speaking of course.  There have been more harvests in my winemaking career working with fruit from Griffin’s Lair than not, having first worked with the fruit even before my time at Bedrock. However, it wasn’t until I worked at Bedrock that I would get a chance to work with this amazing Syrah for my own label (extended story on the website).

The second week of September in 2015 I found myself staring at two macro bins full of dark, soft marbles, connected by their green skeletons (clones Alban and 470 to be exact).  I’d forklifted macros off trucks to the scales and onto the fruit processing line countless times, but this was different. These were mine, like really mine and I could do whatever I wanted with them.  I could just hop in and lay in them if I really wanted-- who’s going to stop me? Well I did hop in the bins, but it wasn’t for napping, it was for foot stomping. 

Some recent tastings of Northern Rhone royalty, Auguste Clape’s titular Cornas bottling, along with my experience in New Zealand with Trinity Hill and Warren Gibson’s La Collina label, led me down the path of 100% whole cluster fermentation. The added pepper and savory notes the stems would contribute on top of what was already a dark, black olive, meaty Syrah may seem like overkill to some, but what’s the fun of winemaking if not for a little experimentation.  In addition to 100% whole cluster, I decided not to inoculate with yeast for primary fermentation, but to let the indigenous yeast living on the grape skins and in the winery do their job. I also opted to let the newly fermented wine sit on the skins for about two weeks post-fermentation before pressing to let the chunky stem tannins mellow out and become a touch rounder. The pressed wine was barreled down to one neutral 500L puncheon where it sat for 16 months before being bottle-aged for 3 years.

Tons of dark fruit and spice on the nose, almost with the intensity of a digestif. A touch of blackberry and clove, pepper notes from the whole cluster, and hiding just under the surface, that varietal savoriness of Syrah (though you have to look for it a bit in this wine). We picked after the September heat spike in 2015, so the ripe fruit character wants to elbow the savory out of the picture, but hold steadfast and find that umami; it’s worth it. Both feral and ferric up front on the palate, quite lifted towards the finish, really waking up the taste buds. Deep fruit behind the finish towards the back of the tongue that lingers for a conversation with you, “How was that? Pretty good, huh? Don’t worry, I’m not goin’ anywhere. Take your time on that next sip”. The bottle aging has also really worked its wonders on the tannin structure of this wine: resolved, respectful, and befriending of the fruit on the back of the finish.

2018 Ricci Vineyard St. Laurent

Now, I’ve always prided myself on liking the weird, outlying stuff. I mean, I have a Jean Machi Giants jersey for crying out loud and even the most hardcore SF fans would have trouble recalling that wonderfully rotund middle relief pitcher. Baseball fandom aside, St. Laurent is weird in the best of ways. I wouldn’t say it is as wonderfully rotund as Jean Machi; in fact, it is usually quite the opposite, filled with bright red fruit and medium acid on the palate. However, on the nose it can be quite a bit more brooding and savory. And that makes sense considering how it is thought to be a genetic cross of Pinot Noir and Savagnin. 

The St. Laurent grape started its journey in the small village of Saint-Laurent-Medoc (imagine that), in Bordeaux. It then migrated across France, through Alsace and Germany in the mid to late 1800s, to where it is mostly planted now: Austria and their northern neighbor, the Czech Republic. It made an even longer journey at the turn of the millenium, however, when Dale Ricci, owner and operator of Ricci Vineyards, imported budwood from some of the last remaining vines of St. Laurent in Germany to plant on his home vineyard in Carneros.

The next journey the St. Laurent would make is into two macro bins destined for Filomena Wine Company.  As I pulled up to the winery with the fruit, I was going back and forth in my head about how I wanted to make this wine. There was no time to dawdle, as it was a busy harvest day at Bedrock. The musings over my new grapes would move to the back of my head as we worked through the daily tasks. Finally at the end of the day, I had almost unconsciously made the decision to try some partial carbonic maceration with the ferment to try and coax a bit more unique flavor out of the grapes. 

I dumped one bin into the fermenter whole cluster (without foot-treading) while destemming the other bin over the top of that fruit. I followed with a heavy scoop of dry ice and sealed up the tank with shrink wrap, creating a totally anaerobic environment. During carbonic maceration, in the absence of oxygen, grapes begin to enzymatically ferment from the inside out as well as start to break down any malic acid present. The results are bright, red fruit flavors and aromas along with less impactful tannins. You have to be careful with the stems though; because carbonic usually results in a much lighter style wine, the tannins can sometimes skew out of balance and be perceived as too bitter (experimentation for the win!). To cope with that, I only left the tank sitting purely anaerobic for about four days before unwrapping it and foot-treading the ferment, letting the indigenous yeast finish the job. It was pressed as soon as it was dry and, in order to maintain some of that brightness on the nose and palate, I kept half of it in a stainless steel barrel and the other half in a neutral 400 liter puncheon for 9 months before going to bottle.

Raspberry, black tea, and sage on the nose, a fair amount of green spice character from the stems. Bright acid up front on the palate, almost citrusy, tannins don’t peek out until the finish’s finish, though they reveal themselves more the longer the bottle is open. Extremely quaffable, each sip beckons another until you tip the glass back and realize it’s empty...but you know how to solve that problem.

Thank You’s

First and foremost, a most sincere thank you to Colonel Morgan Twain-Peterson MW and celebrity winemaker, Chris Cottrell. Not only did you have faith in me to be master of the Bedrock cellar, but you guys gave me the chance to start my own label and supported me every step of the way. I will be eternally grateful for all you have done for me, you guys are the best and only continue to get better.

Thank you to my parents, Theresa and Chuck, for drinking wine at dinner while I was growing up and for all of your support, all forms of it. And to the label’s namesakes, Filomena Pedrazzi and Elaine Filomena, thank you for your values and dedication as matriarchs of the family.

A huge thank you to the growers who have allowed me to work with their fruit and do all I can to make interesting and thought provoking wines. They work tirelessly throughout the year so that we can stomp around on their fruit a bit and say we made a wine. I have the utmost respect for them and remind myself every day how lucky I am to have the chance to work with their fruit. All wine begins in a vineyard, but great wine begins in the mind and soul of a grower. 

Thank you to Joan and Jim Griffin for being loving founders and stewards of Griffin’s Lair. The property was sold to another very experienced wine-growing bunch, the Flynn and Colb families, in early 2018. And though Jim sadly passed away later that year, I swear I can still hear him tinkering down in the barn every time I walk the rows at Griffin’s. We love you Joan, we miss Jim, and dedicate this inaugural bottling and release to his memory. Thank you Joan and Jim!

 And of course, the other half of this release. Thank you to Tyler Kohfeld (no longer “Tyler Softball” in my phone) for connecting me with his family’s vineyard. And to Dale Ricci for having a curious enough mind to give both a young winemaker in me and a relatively unknown variety in St. Laurent a chance. Redeveloping blocks in a vineyard is a huge investment, both in time and money. And you’ve entrusted me with that precious fruit, so thank you Dale!

A shout-out to all of the Bedrock harvest interns, both in the vineyard and cellar, that helped me and my wines through our journey. There are too many to list, but you know who you are. And to the Bedrock full-timers, Cody, Seph, Sarah, and Jake, thank you for all the hard work you do every day. You’re all the real MVPs and don’t ever forget it.

Potentially the biggest thank you to my incredible, outstanding, amazing, and fantastic fiancee, Kat Frasco. You have been with me through every step of this journey, gotten your feet grapey, put up with my shenanigans, and been the best dog mom to Kuma. On top of all that, you even designed our awesome website. I love you and can’t wait to see where this train takes us. 

And thank YOU for taking time out of your day to read a little bit of rambling about where my journey into making my own wine started and where it is headed in the future. We hope you enjoy the wines!

Cheers,

Luke, Kat, and Kuma