There's No Place Like Home
2008 Syrah, Stage Gulch Vineyard
a Cork & Bottle Selection
"Home sweet home. This is the place to find happiness.
If one doesn't find it here, one doesn't find it anywhere."
M. K. Soni
There's no place like Home. Cork & Bottle Selections is a line of handmade wines that are sourced and selected by Jon Smith, owner of Cork & Bottle. "Theres No Place Like Home" is the premium offering of Cork & Bottle Selections and will always be a wine that embodies honesty, purity and sense of place.
Home is where the heart is. The name of the wine refers to the undeniable fact that there are certain places on the planet that grow certain grapes better than others. Single vineyards where certain grapes are most at home do much to allow grapes to show their roots, their origins and speak loudly about where they were born. There is no greater pleasure with wine than having a grape achieve maximum character, ripeness and maturity because it was at home. These wines have soul. These wines have life, all fed from the heart of the vineyard.
Home is where you make it. Wine is not a soloists beverage, it is meant to be enjoyed with friends, with family. It is meant to be enjoyed at the dinner table, the back porch, a sun set, or wherever your imagination brings you. Wine inspires conversations, causing thoughts to flow, livening the senses. Wine creates new friends and settles arguments with foes. Enjoying wine with those you care about creates comfort, creates happiness, creates home. With a bottle of wine in hand, home is indeed where you make it. We hope this wine does that for you.
The Vineyard
The Process
The Result
The wine is 100% Syrah from the Stage Gulch Vineyard, an old vine Syrah vineyard on a high hill in a very cool part of Sonoma County. Unabated Pacific breezes whipping through the Petaluma Gap combine with the abundant sunlight of Sonoma County and well drained, gentle rolling hills to make a perfect climate for grapes.
The position of the vineyard and its late harvesting fruit makes for some potentially seriously good Syrah. There are a great many places to grow serious Syrah in California, however cooler climates like Stage Gulch produce Syrah with deeper, richer old world character.
The grapes were picked in early October after an unusually long harvest season and came in at a perfect ripeness. We employed a unique style of fermenting Syrah, using a much cooler, longer soaking and fermenting period. The extended cold soak and skin contact allows the wine to show much less harsh tannin early on. After malolactic fermentation the wine showed an amazing balance and structure, even at such an early stage.
After 3 press runs, aged separately in two different types of oak for nearly 18 months, instead of bottling up the best barrel or two as was the original plan, we decided that each individual barrel had something to say, had something to add to the blend and we decided to bottle all barrels up into one lot!
The finished product is a gorgeous, supple, intensely fruited Syrah with just enough of that tar, white pepper, roasted meat and bacon aroma that are commonly associated with Syrah from the old world. There is, however, unmistakable fresh, ripe fruit that lets you know of its Sonoma roots.
We're here to tell you this wine is GOOD, legitimately good. This wine speaks to everything that is true to the Syrah grape and everything that is true to a Syrah grape from a cool climate vineyard.
Its good. Real good.
And thatÂ’s important.
The winemaking team for ThereÂ’s No Place Like Home are two guys who are longtime friends in the wine business. Jon Smith and Paul Hoffman first met ten years ago while working for Robert Mondavi Winery and have remained friends since then.
In 2002 Jon left his position at Robert Mondavi to open Cork & Bottle Fine Wines in New Orleans and shortly thereafter Paul did the same, although he headed to Sonoma to learn how to start making wine. After working under Tony Coltrin, one of the finest winemakers walking the planet, Paul went out on his own and started Exclusive Fine Wines.
This is an exciting pairing. In addition to being one hell of a winemaker, Paul has a Syrah palate and genuinely understands the subtle nuances and necessary steps in making great Syrah. Moreover, Paul is as enamored with the Syrah grape as is Jon. Freaks, I think you might call them for the Syrah grape. Better still, they are of a like mind with regards how best to make it (with slight variations of bottling philosophy). The combination of great grapes from a vineyard well suited for Syrah and a winemaking theam that shares a common mind of what goes into a great Syrah no doubt makes for a sure thing.
Paul Hoffman
Jon Smith
Purchase The Wine
Buy '08 There's No Place Like Home
(available for purchase 6/10/10)
Upcoming Events
6/9 Wine Dinner with Paul Hoffman, Calcasieu Restaurant. Email for details.
6/10 Release Party at Cork & Bottle
5:30 pm till. No cost, No Reservations
Stay tuned . . . there's more to come
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