The GrapeCraft Nitty Gritty
Winemakers throughout the world are working together through a shared vision of wine’s true nature within a working philosophy we call GrapeCraft. We define GrapeCraft as “the practical art of connecting the human soul with the soul of a place by rendering its grapes into liquid music.” We mean this quite literally – our research indicates that the brain processes wine similarly to music. Skill in the cellar is essential to presenting the unique flavors of specific vineyards with finesse and harmonious balance.
GrapeCraft speaks of winemaking as a form of cooking, not primarily a scientific enterprise, and accepts that wine’s true nature and its power to move the human soul is fundamentally mysterious. While some of our techniques are novel, even controversial, no one questions the excellence of our wines. We train winemakers in tools and methods to guide a wine’s evolution in the cellar towards soulfulness and integrity.
The elements of GrapeCraft are unified within a calendarized system which depicts its methods and goals. These are the culmination of the work of hundreds of winemakers and researchers throughout the world in the last decade, knitting together into an integrated philosophy the post-modern winemaking concepts of wine structure, phenolic vigor, ripeness, aromatic integration, distinctive terroir expression and the contribution of living soil. More…
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The showcase brand for the Smith family business (world's largest winemaking coaching firm). Made to impress and inform their winemaker clients, the production details are available at this site. French training is evident in winemaker Clark Smith's courageous and edgy stylistic choices, which explore new traditions beyond the mainstream. These wines deliver striking value with consummate skill. Whenever WineSmith wines demonstrate specific aspects of our postmodern winemaking system, such as building structure and integrating aromatics through micro-oxygenation, achieving proper ripeness without excessive alcohol, minerality from living soil, sulfite-free Roman-style winemaking, and so forth, we offer educational flights to illustrate specific topics in our Flights of Discovery Series. These wines are extremely high quality without exception. We can scarcely afford to be second-best!
WineSmith's second label employs the same expertise and Eurocentric aesthetic utilizing grapes from top growers in unfashionable areas so you pay for the wine, not the hype. "A fool and his money are soon Parkered," jibes Smith. "With CheapSkate we sell you wine, not hype.” Trust your taste!" CheapSkate 2003 California Cabernet Sauvignon was entered in the New World Wine Competition in the OVER $50 category and received a unanimous Gold Medal.
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Not everyone loves a CheapSkate, but everybody loves a bargain. We chose the whimsical old-time bicycle to represent bygone times when life was simpler and more joyful, and an old-fashioned honest value was less rare. Handcrafted for current drinking, these wines are rounder and more resolved than our other offerings, beautifully structured and simply delicious.
Clark Smith's blog, focusing on wine technology, postmodern winemaking, and technical or political issues in today's wine production world.
Practicing GrapeCraft
The entire integrated GrapeCraft system is depicted in a beautiful mandala-like calendar, a collaboration of Clark’s inputs and the brilliant graphic work of Sonoma County artist Bob Lee Hickson
A highly technical site for winemakers and winery owners. Vinovation is like the Culinary Institute for that specialized branch of cooking we call winemaking. This site contains information on winemaking services, consulting, products and classes, as well as essays on specific winemaking fundamentals and quality improvement strategies.
Home of the Wine Crimes Wall of Shame. Here are collected the nasty little pieces the luddite press has printed about us over the years, a few nice ones, and an article or two in rebuttal. You be the judge.
