Talbott’s Kamee Knutson Debuts New Wines and Heard Through the Grapevine

July 26, 2024 – Eager to make her own mark on the Talbott lineup, winemaker Kamee Knutson has introduced a little bit of steel to the Chardonnay program. Like adding a twang of steel pedal to a country ballad for emotional impact, it definitely makes its presence known in the wine. And, beyond that, she’s also done something completely new for Talbott, and that is to offer a low alcohol alternative.

Talbott tasting room manager Josh Adams, poured me the latest wines in the lineup on a recent visit, when the sun was sparkling on the Pacific, and the chilly breeze felt good after a month of triple digits up in the Summit area. 

The 2023 Talbott Luminous Chardonnay, 9.5%, $35, is completely done in steel. It is essentially a hybrid of picking grapes early for their bright acidity and then picking the rest at full ripeness, putting the wine through a de-alcoholization process. BTW, 9.5% is pretty darn low. You’d be hard pressed to find many European options at that level. 

Living up to its promising name, the wine is indeed luminous in the glass, with a bit of a green hue to the overall light yellow, giving away its oakless aging regimen with its clarity. It’s pretty in the nose, very floral with a touch of lemon, and it’s very pleasing and delicate, but not wimpy in the mouth. The flavors of kiwi and peach make for a proper finish. Could maybe have used a little new oak or lees stirring to give it that fatness and density that Talbott’s Chardonnays are so prized for. 

Adams really hit the nail on the head by asking these questions: Does our clientele want this kind of wine? Is this our target audience? After all, Talbott is known for its high-end Chardonnay: it has a signature all its own. Maybe this is a project that would live more easily in the Kali Hart category? Or maybe it goes into “Winemaker’s Playground?” For now, it will make a nice treat for someone who appreciates a light and lively wine that really doesn’t surrender much except a bit of alcohol. 

2022 Chardonnay, Sleepy Hollow Vineyard, South, 13.8%, $60: Previous Talbott winemakers have selected different blocks from the North and South portions of the Sleepy Hollow Vineyard to create individual snapshots of distinctive areas of the vineyard. This new approach creates a broader “ranch style,” rather than a block-driven style. For this wine, Knutson did multiple picks from the South ranch, picking some earlier than in the past, aiming for a brighter, less oak-driven style. Here, she’s using stainless steel, and native yeast, with around 30% new French oak. The wildflower honey, gardenia and apple butter aromas combine with a ramrod of acid, taking the wine in a tighter, leaner direction. It’s subtle and intriguing, with green apple, mango and papaya, plus and a hint of orange creamsicle on the finish. This one has range, for sure. 

2023 Rosé of Pinot Noir, Sleepy Hollow Vineyard, 13.2%, $32: Now, this is a winner, from the lipstick perfect shade of pale pink to the fantastic ripe peach and red ruby grapefruit aromas that show up on the palate, creating a seamless, utterly drinkable wine that doesn’t make you want more or less of anything. The acid is spot on, the fruit just so, and the finish, clean and brisk. This is truly a Talbott-worthy wine. 

2022 Pinot Noir, Sleepy Hollow Vineyard, South, 13.8%, $75:  Again reflecting Knudson’s new approach of wanting a ranch style instead of block-level granularity, this wine is a nice tapestry of layers. Plus, it employs a semi-carbonic approach, in that some of the destemmed fruit was layered with whole cluster bunches in the fermenting bin. Then, the entire bins were covered with dry ice and shrink-wrapped. This is the “lasagna” wine Knutson had told me about when we met in December. It certainly represents a true departure from Talbott’s style, in that it hits you with instant freshness, and a smack of cranberry and vivid red raspberry that jolts your senses. It’s actually pretty great. The WOW! factor of this wine will appeal to a broad audience and a youthful palate that wants fresh fruit and not a ton of complexity with that first sip. A great addition to the lineup.

You can still enjoy a nice smorgasbord of earlier vintages at the Carmel tasting room, including several 2019 Block Pinot Noirs, as well as the 2021 Block 4 North Chardonnay, and both the 2021 Fidelity wines. Cheese pairings are available as well ($30), and they are still serving their sparkling brut ($65). They also have 2020 Diamond T wines available. 

THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE

Wear That Old Rolling Stones T-shirt to Saison In Scotts Valley 

Director of operations Jane McElrone tells us that if you wear a Rolling Stones T-shirt to Saison Wine Cellar  on Friday, July 26, you’ll get 15% off your entire order. Why? It’s Mick Jagger’s 81^st birthday. The man now known as Sir Michael Phillip Jagger, was born on July 26, 1943, in Dartford, the principal town in the borough of Kent, southeast of Central London by about 18 miles. He’s still going strong after 6 decades of what can only be described as a wretched excess of large living combined with a very strong set of genes, inherited from his Dad, who was a gymnast and physical education teacher. His Mum was a hairdresser. It all makes sense, doesn’t it?  

Turns out that new Saison Wine Cellar Manager Brian Knight attended the Rolling Stones concert at Levi’s Stadium last week, to which he wore a t-shirt from 1981: a baseball type affair, white with black sleeves. Two other fans showed up with the exact same shirt, so of course, they took a photo. McElrone, herself an avid Rolling Stones fan, also has a 1981 t-shirt from a concert she attended at Candlestick, only hers is grey.

Last Tuesday—at the Saison food truck popup with Yakitori Toriman—David Kinch, another big Stones fan, came by, and naturally, they began trading concert trivia. Kinch also has a shirt from 1981, when he saw the Stones in New Orleans. We’re curious to know what’s in your closet or t-shirt drawer. 

Good News from Scheid 

Scheid Wines is feeling the pinch of expensive debt, with interest rates rising from 5.9% for fiscal year (FY) 2024, to 6.8% for FY 2025, driving interest expense up from $1.5M to $1.9M. 

The good news is that they’ve trimmed some operations, sales and marketing expenses, and slightly amped up revenue by 4%, with increased cased goods sales, and winery processing and storage revenues. Bulk wine sales remained flat. 

“There’s no doubt that it’s been a challenging market for both cased goods and bulk wine,” president and CEO Scott Scheid said in a statement. “I’m proud of the significant efforts our team has undertaken to do more with less, highlighted by our first quarter results showing a modest increase in sales of 4% while achieving double-digit decreases in sales, marketing and G&A expenses. Continuous improvement is one of our core values and our teams come to work each day looking for opportunities to improve the way we do business.” 

Randall Grahm Documentary Underway

Santa Cruz’ own Randall Grahm is the subject of a documentary currently being filmed by Jeffrey Reiner, a film director, editor, screenwriter, television director, and producer, primarily known for TV shows like Columbo, The Sentinel, Haunted, Friday Night Lights and Trauma. Reiner might be best known for directing three seasons of The Affair, which win a Golden Globe for Best TV Series, Drama. He also directed the pilot for the Wonder Woman TV series that never made it. Film credits include Cheerleader Camp and Think Big. 

Winemaker, Nicole Walsh, tells us they’ve been shooting at Popelouchum all this week, and that she’s among the people that have been filmed. 

And speaking of Grahm, The Rhone Ranger is featured on a recent Adam Montiel podcast, The Pour, where his history is nicely recapped by Montiel in the introduction. The podcast was recorded in Edna Valley at the new tasting room for his latest project, a joint venture with Gallo called The Language of Yes. One of the first topics covered is screwcaps. Plumpjack was the first to bottle 180 cases of their 1997 screwcapped Cabernet Sauvignon in 2000; Grahm was next. He jumped in with both feet in 2001, bottling 35k cases of wine under screwcap. Somebody had to do it. 

Stirm Abandons Santa Cruz TR Plans 

It appears that Winemaker Ryan Stirm decided to throw in the towel on the idea of building out a new tasting room for his Stirm Wines in downtown Santa Cruz, telling us he gave up on the project after discovering the true costs of the buildout alone, which looked to be near $300k, far from the “turn-key” operation the city initially had represented. “Basically, everything had to get updated and changed to make it a functioning space again,” Stirm told us. “Too risky for a little winery like mine!”

Once again, the “business friendly” planning department has made the price of opening a new operation far beyond the realm of “small.”  Do they really think all wineries have secret oil wells in their backyards? 

Nat Wong of Blade & Talon Takes NYC By Storm 

We’re proud to report that Nat Wong, winemaker at Blade & Talon and caretaker of Siletto Vineyard in San Benito County, had a successful road trip to visit top somms in some of the swankiest zip codes in New York City. 

“Just got back from a whirlwind sales trip to NY!” Wong told us. “Very competitive market, but my wines were well-received and now featured at some really cool spots in a multitude of buroughs!” That includes placements in Hell’s Kitchen, Washington Square, Midtown East and Jersey City. 

Locally, you can read more about Wong in my story Grape Keeper in the Summer issue of EMB and find Wong’s essential for summer chillable reds at Crave Wine Bar in Hollister, Sovino in Monterey, Vertigo in San Juan Bautista, The Overlook at Paicines Ranch, The SpaceBar at NASA Ames Research Center (far out, man!), Barnyard Epicurean in Danville and Beyond the Fig in Rocklin. Way to go, Nat! And you can always order online: bladeandtalon.com