Dexter Lake California Red Wine 2013

It’s the most ridiculous bottle I’ve run into in some time.  There’s the mustache, which makes me think I should have shipped this thing in Movember, instead of the spring.  Then there’s the free WordPress website that hasn’t been updated since the summer of 2013.

Seems like a winery trying really hard for sales, right?  Kind of a mess too, right?

I thought the exact same things, before I actually opened a bottle.  It’s good and it’s a classic California red.  Which led me to do some more digging about how this weird, strange thing ended up on my doorstep.

Dexter Lake is a project from winemaker Matthew Rorick, who makes the acclaimed Forlorn Hope Wines. Since those are almost stupidly small production lots, I’ll let Jon Bonne from the San Francisco Chronicle’s wine section do some of the introduction for me.  Bonne called Rorick a winemaker to watch in 2013 and has included his Forlorn Hope label among 150 wineries leading the charge to a new type and style of wine in California.  That style is one I am more accustomed to than most (it’s what I would make, if I could in fact make wine) but has led to some interesting experiences.  Rorick’s first Chardonnay spent 14 months fermenting because he used native yeasts and the fermentation kept stopping when the weather got cold, hot, rained etc.  It would make a less patient guy dump in some commercial yeasts like most winemakers, only to return after 21 days to a finished fermentation.  Instead, he’s continued, native yeasts, whole grape clusters and only a touch of sulfur (other than Donkey and Goat, God Bless you if you find anyone else not using any these days).  Maybe it’s Rorick’s background as a surfer in San Diego (Oceanside, but we counted it as kids, so I’ll count it here) but there’s a patience here.

Part of that patience I’m afraid does come from his wife’s family owning Snowden Vineyards in Napa, a winery that we’ve shipped in our Special Selections Wine Club previously, but the profile of Snowden has undoubtedly allowed Rorick the space to generate the types of wines that he wants.  

Emboldened by a 19th century winemaking text Rorick is working to master a new generation of California wine, even if the winemaking techniques he’s using happen to have been created in the Chateau’s of Bordeaux, around the time when Charles Darwin was walking around London.

Oh and before I forget, this is a series of old vine vineyards in Contra Costa County, east of San Francisco, which make up the backbone for this wine.  Sometimes, even superstar winemakers want to try something new and when they do, they often have a 2nd label to do so. We think our Explorations Wine Club members are going to especially enjoy this full bodied California red, that comes in at only 13% alcohol, a trick of native yeast to be sure.