The Year of the Shepherd

Last March at the Rhone Rangers Tasting in San Francisco, a meeting of California wine producers making Rhone varietals - syrah, mourvedre, grenache, cinsault, roussanne, marsanne, viognier - I tried the wines of producer Two Shepherds. Winemaker William Allen is a software developer by day and a wine producer by night, as of about 3 years ago. He is my hero because he started as a wine blogger (SimpleHedonisms.com) and made wine in his garage. When enough people told him he was onto something he decided to rent space in a winery collective in Santa Rosa and now makes about 500 cases per year, starting with the successful 2010 vintage.  William works every night and weekend on his wine, and he focuses on the varietals of the Rhone region of France because he loves those unique varietals. He focuses on "making wines that 'shepherd' grapes gently into non-manipulated and balanced old world style wines, while also guiding consumers back to wines of authenticity and to the wonderfully diverse realm of Rhone wines."

William has turned me on to Grenache Blanc, a rich and refreshing white that he makes. Those grapes come from the Santz Ynez Valley in Santa Barbara county while most of his other grapes come from the Russian River Valley of Sonoma county, but if William finds a vineyard he likes elsewhere he'll figure out how to get the grapes. William is all about low intervention and letting the winemaking process happen naturally. He allows the wines to ferment spontaneously from their native, naturally present yeasts. All of his wines go through natural malolactic fermentation, a process that softens their acidity, yet they are all still crisp, refreshing, and creamy, with a great texture that William is known for. He doesn't filter his wines nor cold stabilize, so if you put them in the fridge they will throw tartrates (no harm in that). The reds are aged in neutral oak which helps round them out without imparting oaky flavor.

Two Shepherds wines are a refreshing departure from typical big California wines - they are crisp, with bright acidity, depth of flavor, and balanced alcohol (around 13%). On a visit to his Santa Rosa facility in June (which he shares with Sheldon Micro-Winery and Krutz Family Cellars) we tasted more of the 2011 vintage and ended up joining our first wine club. A note on wine clubs - I don't really like them, mostly because they lock you into a certain amount of wine at regular intervals throughout the year. In the nearly 3 years that we've lived in San Francisco and after visiting countless wineries we have never had the desire to join a wine club and commit to certain wines for a year. Until now. William's club is flexible, with options for 4, 6 or 12 bottles per shipment, at 2 shipments per year. Since he makes many different bottlings in small quantities, some are only available to the wine club. So we are now "members of the flock" and privy to special wines and special events.

Some notes from our recent tastings (all 2011 vintage):

Grenache Blanc: yeasty nose, nice minerality, crisp yet creamy at the same time.

Centime: an "orange" wine made from co-fermenting Marsanne and Roussanne in stainless steel on their skins to impart some of the color, which develops into a pale orange wine. Coincidentally there is orange blossom scent on the nose combined with citrus on the palate. The wine is fresh, rich and smooth. A true geek wine, I was so excited to try this (and purchase my 1 bottle limit).

Pastoral Blanc: a blend of Roussanne, Marsanne, Viognier and Grenache Blanc. Perfumey, flowery nose, deep flavor and great acidity.

Syrah: exactly the type of Syrah I love - meaty and spicy with black pepper but rose-y and pretty at the same time. Aged 10 months in neutral oak.

Grenache: beautiful fresh berry nose, nice structure and acidity. Crushed/de-stemmed and fermented in small open-top fermenter, aged in neutral oak.

William has a great sense of humor and makes these fun t-shirts:

Separately, my sister gave birth to a beautiful baby boy this past April - his name is Shepherd. Here's my nephew at 4 months old:

Perhaps a future wine lover? 

To Shepherds!