Rhone Blends

Mourvedre is a late ripening, finicky grape. We use it as important component of our QED Convergence blend. We never imagined doing anything else with it. But sometimes things work out in ways you haven’t envisioned; sometimes that’s for the better.

As the 2008 Mourvedre matured in barrel, we started noticing its high quality. During the Walla Walla Holiday Barrel Weekend in December 2009, we had a number of people beseeching us to make a 100% Mourvedre wine. It was easy to see why. The Mourvedre was simply beautiful.

So we listened. We set aside 3 barrels and called the wine Vox Populi – voice of the people. Every year, we make roughly 3 barrels.

Stylistically, I’m a big fan of the Bandol wine region in France. The reds from there have to be at 50% Mourvedre, with the rest being Grenache and Cinsault (my favorites – Domaine de Terrebrune and Domaine Tempier). The wines are wild, meaty, spicy, rustic, and delicious (and the best of them are age-worthy). Mourvedre is a wild grape. We try to harness this wildness, not tame it. Billo likes to call to refer to our Mourvedre as Tarzan in a Tux. That’s sums it up nicely.

For Winemaker notes, technical details, and reviews, please click on the following vintages:

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

In 2007, we purchased 28 acres of vineyard property in what is now The Rocks District of Milton-Freewater AVA – a newly minted AVA that will prove to be one of the best in the world. We knew back in 2007 that, ultimately, our brand would be tied to this land. Unfortunately, it took us until 2015 to start planting. We planted 3 acres of Syrah and we hope to add to it yearly.

Adjacent to our vineyard land is an 8-acre parcel called SJR Vineyard. The vineyard is owned by Steve and Mary Robertson. They also own a small winery called Delmas . Billo happens to be the consulting winemaker for Delmas. Rasa is one of four wineries that get fruit from SJR Vineyard. Eventually all the fruit will go only to Delmas and Rasa. Because of our close relationship and because the vineyard shares the same terroir as our vineyard, this is our first Estate wine.

We named the wine Veritas Sequitur. Veritas Sequitur is Latin for “truth follows” – the implicit truth of the terroir of The Rocks District flows through this wine.

As soon as we can agree on a label for Veritas Sequitur, we will release the 2013 vintage. It just may be the best wine we’ve made to date.

For Winemaker notes, technical details, and reviews, please click on the following vintage:

2013

 

 

QED stands for Quod Erat Demonstrandum – Latin for “which was to be demonstrated.” At the end of a mathematical proof, you typically write QED. It basically means “I’m done; I’ve proven what I set out to prove.”

When we started our winery, our family and friends would say “you guys know a lot about wines, but can you make world class wine?”

Well, the proof is in the bottle – QED.

We liked the name so much that, starting with the 2012 vintage, we extended QED into a line of wines. The packaging differentiators are the sub-names and the label colors. The original QED is now called QED Convergence. It has the original red and black label, and it continues to be a blend of Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre, and Viognier. We have a Cabernet Franc called QED Axiom of Choice and it has a yellow and black label. As we add more wines to the QED line, we will use different sub-names (all mathematics related like Reimann Hypothesis, taxicab numbers, Kaprekar’s constants) and different label colors to differentiate the wines.

Our first wine, the 2007 QED, received a 94-point rating from Harvey Steiman of Wine Spectator. It was a nice way to start. The 2007 didn’t have any Viognier because we couldn’t get access to any – what little was planted at the time was fully allocated. Since then, we coferment a little Viognier with Syrah. In the Northern Rhone commune of Cote Rotie, the winemakers have been cofermenting Syrah and Viognier for centuries. The Viognier imparts subtle floral notes (think plumeria, acacia, honeysuckle, violet) to the wine and gives the wine an aromatic lift. We only use about 3% Viognier – it’s all that is needed.

Though we say that our QED is a Rhone blend, this is not exactly correct. Yes, all the grape varieties are Rhone varieties, but you would be hard pressed to find a wine from the Rhone Valley with a blend that is mostly Syrah with minor percentages of Grenache, Mourvedre, and Viognier.

The Rhone Valley is divided into main subregions – the Northern Rhone and the Southern Rhone. The Northern Rhone has the following AOC designated wine regions – Cote-Rotie, Condrieu, Chateau-Grillet, Saint-Joseph, Crozes-Hermitage, Hermitage, Cornas, Saint-Peray. Only Syrah, Viognier, Marsanne, and Roussanne are allowed in the northern Rhone.

The Southern Rhone has 14 AOC designated wine regions, with each AOC having different laws about which wines are allowed to be produced. If you look at all the appellations and see which ones allow Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre, and Viognier in one wine, you are left with Cotes du Rhone, Cotes du Rhone Villages, Beaumes de Venise, Gigondas, and Lirac.

Beaumes de Venise is mainly known for its sweet wine. Some dry red is made there but, by regulations, Grenache has to account for a minimum of 50% of the blend. Of the roughly 3000 acres planted in Gigondas, 70% is planted to Grenache, with the majority of the rest being planted to Syrah and Mourvedre. There is also a smattering of Viognier planted. AOC regulations stipulate that the red wines from Gigondas contain a minimum 50% Grenache. Lirac grows mainly Grenache for red wine and Clairette and Bourboulenc for white wine. They are allowed to grow Syrah and Viognier, but not much is planted (Viognier is practically non-existent).

That leaves Cotes du Rhone and Cotes du Rhone Village. In both of these regions, Grenache is typically the primary grape. Though a little Viognier is allowed in Cotes du Rhone Villages, it is allowed only in its Rose and not the red wines. For Cotes du Rhone, Viognier is allowed in the red wines, though it is seldom used. Wines labeled Cotes du Rhone, because they are inexpensive, tend to be Grenache dominant (Grenache yields are typically higher than Syrah yields). So, while it is possible to get a QED type blend from Cotes du Rhone, it is extremely unlikely. Plus, if it was made, it would be not of the same quality as our wine.

This is all a way of saying that our QED is a Rhone blend that you would never find coming from the Rhone Valley.

For Winemaker notes, technical details, and reviews, please click on the following vintages:

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Jaboulet La Chapelle Hermitage 1989 and 1990; Guigal’s La La wines (La Landonne, La Mouline, and La Turque) 1978, 1985, 1990, 1991; Chapoutier Ermitage Le Pavillon and L’Ermite 1990, 1991; Chave Hermitage 1990, 1991; and many vintages of Penfolds Grange are some of the best Syrahs we’ve been fortunate to taste. These are reference point wines. They inspire us.

In 2007, we wanted to make a small amount of reserve Syrah, just 3 barrels. We didn’t want to use “Winemaker’s Reserve” or “Artist Series” to depict our reserve wine because it’s been done to death. So, we decided on calling our reserve line the Celebrate Excellence series. The idea is to celebrate something profound that changed the way we look at things. Since we already had a math/science theme with QED, we decided to stick with it. Paul Gregutt, wine critic, happened to be visiting with Billo to taste our wines and talk about what we were doing. He suggested calling the wine Principia to honor Sir Isaac Newton’s Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica first published in 1687. The Principia is a seminal work that changed the way we view the natural world. Newton’s laws of motion form the basis of classical mechanics – the study of bodies in motion. The Principia stands as testament to the genius of Newton. It also stands as inspiration to mankind that with our minds we can achieve unbelievable things. Each year, we change the graphic on the label. I’m geeky enough to go through the Principia every year to pick out a new formula to put on the label. My brother Billo thinks I’m crazy because I spend days trying to understand the stuff (and then forget it shortly thereafter). The wine is always 100% Syrah from multiple vineyard sources.

For Winemaker notes, technical details, and reviews, please click on the vintages below.

2007 – The label for the inaugural vintage of Prinicipia has on it a graphic depiction of Newton’s law of universal gravitation: each particle is attracted to every other particle in the universe. The force of this attraction is given by the equation F= Gm₁m₂/r² where:

F is the force of attraction between the two masses (the magnitude of F₁ equals the magnitude of F₂)

G is the gravitional constant

m₁ is the mass of particle 1

m₂ is the mass of particle 2

r is the distance between the centers of particles 1 and 2

2008 – The label depicts Newton’s Second Law of Motion: force is equal to mass times acceleration. The famous equation is F=ma where:

F is the net force

m is the mass of the object

a is the acceleration of the object

We didn’t use the formula in its famous form (F=ma) simply because we didn’t like the way it looked on the label. The formula on the label says the same exact thing, but it also highlights something that is less obvious in the formula F=ma: this formula works only for systems where the mass is constant. So:

ΣF is the net force

dp/dt is the change in momentum over time (momentum=mass*velocity)

m*dv/dt + v*dm/dt (change in momentum over time = mass times the change in velocity over time + velocity times the change in mass over time)

For constant mass systems, dm/dt is zero (since mass is constant), which means that v*dm/dt is zero. This leaves m*dv/dt. The change in velocity over time is called acceleration (a=v/t). So, m*dv/dt can be rewritten as ma. Therefore, F=ma.

Instead of F=ma, we chose to derive it by using momentum simply because it looked cooler on the label.

2009 – In 1609, Johannes Kepler announced what became known as Kepler’s first law and second law of planetary motion (there are three). The first law simply states that the planets orbit around the sun in elliptical orbits, and not circular as stated by Copernicus. The sun is located at one of the two foci of an ellipse. The second law states that a planet sweeps equal areas in equal time. If you drew an ellipse with the sun at one foci and the planet on the elliptical orbit, and if the planet traveled the same amount of time from A to B as it did from C to D, the areas that it sweeped would be equivalent (imagine a straight line from the sun to point A and a straight line from the sun to point B – that area would be the same as the area from the sun to points C and D). Kepler arrived at his conclusions through observations. Newton proved them.

2010 – This diagram is part of Newton’s discussion on attraction by non-spherical bodies: the attraction of the spheroid AGBC to object P located externally on its axis AB is proportional to AS³/3PS² (from Newton’s Principia for the Common Reader by Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar). What can I say, I liked the picture.

2011 – There is a widespread notion that Isaac Newton introduced calculus in the Principia Mathematica. That is not exactly correct. Though he’s been credited with developing calculus around 1665, he didn’t publish his findings until 1693. Nowhere in the Principia, published in 1687, will you find calculus or calculus notation explicitly used. But, there is certainly evidence that he uses the concepts of calculus in the Principia. The image is but one example.

From Book 1 Section 1, Lemma II, from the translation by Andrew Motte:

“If in any figure A a c E terminated by the right lines A a, A E, and the curve a c E, there be inscrib’d any number of parallelograms A b, B c, C d, &c. comprehended under equal bases A B, B C, C D, &c. and the sides B b, C c, D d, &c. parallel to one side A a of the figure; and the parallelograms a K b l, b L c m, c M d n, &c. are compleated. Then if the breadth of those parallelograms be suppos’d to be diminished, and their number to be augmented in infinitum: I say that the ultimate ratio’s which the inscrib’d figure A K b L c M d D, the circumscribed figure A a l b m c n d o E, and the curvilinear figure A a b c d E, will have to one another, are ratio’s of equality.

For the difference of the inscrib’d and circumscrib’d figures is the sum of the parallelograms K l, L m, M n, D o, that is, (from the equality of all their bases) the rectangle under one of their bases K b and the sum of their altitudes A a, that is, the rectangle A B l a. But this rectangle, because its breadth A B is suppos’d diminished in infinitum, becomes less than any given space. And therefore (By Lem. I.) the figures inscribed and circumscribed become ultimately equal one to the other; and much more will the intermediate curvilinear figure be ultimately equal to either. Q.E.D.”

This is the concept behind integration (integral calculus). In calculating the integral of a curve you are simply calculating the area bounded by the curve and the x-axis between two distinct boundaries. This is tantamount to summing up all the rectangles as in the graphic. As the width of rectangles approaches zero, the number of rectangles approaches infinity – the more the rectangles better the approximation of the area under the curve. Integration is simply a really fast way to add all these rectangles.

2012 – The graphic on this label is from Book 1, Section XIV, Proposition XCIV, Theorem XLVIII. The Prinicipia is concerned with motion and the relationship between forces and bodies. This theorem deals with how a larger body affects a smaller body through centripetal forces. From the translation by Andrew Motte:

“If two similar mediums be separated from each other by a space terminated on both sides by parallel planes, and a body in its passage through that space be attracted or impelled perpendicularly towards either of those mediums, and not agitated or hindered by any other force; and the attraction be every where the same at equal distances from either plane, taken towards the same hand of the plane; I say, that the sine of incidence upon either plane will be to the sine of emergence of the other plane in a given ratio.”

2013 – From Book I, Section III, Proposition XII, Problem VII, this diagram deals with finding the relationship of the centripetal force to the focus of a hyperbola.

I’ll admit it – for the most part, I don’t think Grenache from Washington state is very good. I think it’s a great blending grape, and we use it to great effect as a blender in several of our blends. But, making a single-varietal wine with Grenache? I had zero interest.

Grenache gets its fame as the predominant grape in most of the Chateauneuf-du-Pape red wines from the Southern Rhone Valley. It also does well in parts of Spain, Australia, and California.

It is a late-ripening grape so it needs heat well into autumn, otherwise it will not fully mature. The grapes in the clusters are close together, so it’s imperative that the growing conditions are dry, otherwise rot becomes a serious concern.

In Washington, we have to pick your spots. Grenache should be planted in hot, dry places where it can ripen well into the 3^rd week of October, and having good wind flow helps. In Washington, this is hard to come by.

In 2007, Mark Hoffmeister and his wife Monnette bought a 9-acre parcel of land in Milton Freewater, OR, in an AVA that is now known as The Rocks District of Milton Freewater. They planted the vineyard to Mourvedre and Grenache from cuttings propagated by Tablas Creek Vineyards. In 2010, Mark became our first employee – our Cellar Master and then Assistant Winemaker. In 2011, we decided to buy some Grenache and Mourvedre from his vineyard, Monette’s Vineyard. Since Mark had already become an indispensible part of Rasa, getting fruit from his vineyard felt like we were getting our first estate fruit.

During the elevage, I loved the Mourvedre from the 2011 vintage, but hated the Grenache. So, much so, that after about 8 months in bottle, I told Billo that I think we need to sell it in bulk to another winery. Ah, but patience is so important in a winery. The same wine that I disliked at 8 months, I loved at 18 months. In fact, it was so good, we decided that we needed to bottle some of it as a single varietal, single vineyard wine – the primus inter pares Grenache was born.

We love this vineyard. The Grenache from here is incredibly expressive. We call the wine primus inter pares – Latin for “first among equals”. It’s our statement that the Rocks district AVA is the best in the country. We keep the production small – anywhere from 70-125 cases. The wine drinks more like a Pinot Noir than a full-bodied Grenache that you may get from California or Spain. That is just fine by me. In fact, it’s preferable.

For Winemaker notes, technical details, and reviews, please click on the following vintages:

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

William of Ockham was a 14^th century Franciscan Friar and philosopher. There is a heuristic, or rule of thumb, attributed to him (though he never specifically sites the heuristic in his work, he was a proponent of it). The heuristic is called lex parsimoniae (law of parsimony): given that all things are equal, the simplest answer tends to be the correct answer. Lex parsimoniae is better known today as Occam’s Razor, in honor of William of Ockham.

Sometimes this principle gets whittled down to “keep it simple.” But, that’s not exactly accurate. The heuristic merely states that you don’t need X hypotheses when Y (where Y is smaller than X) hypotheses will do. It makes no guarantee that the simpler answer will be correct, it merely states that the simpler answer is more likely to be correct. By the way, simpler doesn’t imply non-complex; it only implies the least complex.

Contact is a great movie based on the novel of the same name by Carl Sagan. While I like science fiction stories, I really like science-in-fiction stories – and this is as good as it gets. Occam’s Razor is brought up in a dialogue between Dr. Ellie Arroway (played by Jodie Foster, a scientist searching for signs of extraterrestrial life) and Palmer Joss (played by Matthew McConaughey, a devout Christian who writes about science). The discussion is on science vs. God. It’s a wonderful scene, the subtext pregnant with the anxieties, hopes, and fears we all experience – a need for meaning, a need not to be alone, a need to believe – which is in conflict with an equal need for verifiable proof.

Growing up, I can remember watching Carl Sagan on PBS local channel 13. I loved watching him. As a teenager, I read one of his books – Broca’s Brain, and reread it some years later. Now that I’m 50, it might be time to revisit his books. He was an inspiring figure – an intellectual, a scientist who had tremendous communication skills, and a deeply human spirit. You felt his empathy, he understood the human condition. The world could use more Carl Sagans.

Ever since that movie, Occam’s Razor became one of my life philosophies. So we decided to name one of our wines Occam’s Razor – which, let’s face it, is a very cool name. The 2009, 2010, and 2011 Occam’s Razor were single-vineyard Syrahs from Block 10 in Seven Hills Vineyard. The block was planted to the Joseph Phelps clone in 1997 by Kenny Hart, who has become one of our closest friends in the valley.

It’s a beautiful wine highlighting the fruitier side of Syrah. After 2011 vintage, we made the tough decision to stop making it. We were making too many wines and we are going to add new wines as our estate program gets under way. We kept the trademark going, thinking that we may reintroduce the wine. But, we had a new wine coming out in March 2017 – a 2014 Red Blend for the retail price of $15.99. This is a new market segment for us. We needed a strong name. We decided to rebrand Occam’s Razor as this red blend.

For Winemaker notes, technical details, and reviews, please click on the following vintages:

2009

2010

2011

2014