Salamandre Wine Cellars Summer 2006 Newsletter
Roadrunners Beware: Coyote in the Cellar

Deep in the heart of every winemaker, there burns a desire to make a prestige Cabernet. True, the Pinot fetishists (I could be one) and the Zinfandel lovers (that could be me, too) may consider Cab to be a clumsy, murky, bully with ego blandishing price points, but still, that yearning tease is undeniable. That could be me, too….

In 20 years of commercial winemaking, I had never crushed Cabernet grapes that made the earth move beneath my feet. (It did rumble once or twice for Primitivo and Pinot.) That all changed in 2004 when the fruit ripened in the new plantings at the Wiley Ranch.

Wiley clings to a slope high above the ephemeral Arroyo Seco River in Monterey County, above the evening fog, with temperatures 10 degrees hotter than the Arroyo Seco Vineyard where I’ve harvested grapes since the 1970’s. Roger Moitoso and Serafin Guzman planted a wide array of Bordeaux varieties at Wiley, and in 2004, Dionysos showed up with a grin.

Now, it’s important to note that California Cabernets have consistently smoked the French Premier Grand Cru Bordeaux in blind tasting competitions…with French judges, no less… not that we’d succumb to the temptation to strut such jingo chauvinism. The finest California Cabs are rarely 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, but rather Bordeaux-emulating blends of traditional Bordeaux varietals aged in French Nevers oak. Rather French. Some of our best examples also fall below the 75% varietal content required to label the wine with a familiar Cabernet identity. What could California marketers call these blends, without obviously pirating a French name, yet still command exorbitant prices? Our guys weren’t quite ready to sever the French cord completely, so they searched for a clever New World name with a French nuance. They invented “Meritage.” Trade people quibble whether that word should rhyme with “heritage” or with “camouflage.” I don’t care…I think it’s a contrivance.

The Wiley Ranch backs up against the rugged Ventana Wilderness, home to condors and cougars, bandits and badgers, rattlesnakes and earthquakes. In honor of this feral influence, we Salamandres call our blend the “Coyote Cuvée.” A Wiley Coyote, no doubt.

The 2004 Coyote Cuvée brings together 60% Cabernet Sauvignon of several clones, 20% Merlot, 10% each of Cabernet Franc and Petite Verdot. I aged it 18 months in a mix of American and French oak barrels and then bottled it with a stout backbone of tannin. I believe this inky wine will be spreading its wings for another 5 years and then soar a long time, but it was so full of fruit right now that I figured it’s time to share the excitement.

Serve with mesquite braised roadrunner over a bed of sage and rosemary.

Wells Shoemaker MD, Winemaker