(Note:  This is the second in a series of posts about my trip to Amador County, during which I parked my Airstream trailer at Cooper Vineyards for four days.  I still have two more posts to complete, so stay tuned for more winery reports.  Click on any photo to enlarge it; if you’d like to comment, I’d love to hear from you.)

Choosing my first stop ever traveling on the Vintage Highway was something in which I invested a lot of thought.  Visiting Amador first was an easy decision because of all the AVAs in California, I truly feel welcomed and at home in the Shenandoah Valley.  In terms of physical, natural beauty at all times of year, it competes with any wine region.  And the wines produced there are stellar, as are the people. . . typically of hardy stock, ranchers whose ancestors farmed everything from hay to prunes to walnuts in addition to planting the early vineyards.  These people are genuine and honest and display and ingrained work ethic that makes me feel like I really need to kick into a higher gear.

My icebreaker choice was Renwood Winery on Steiner Rd., a narrow country lane lined with owner-operated wineries and, directly across the street from what is widely acknowledged as the most celebrated of all zinfandel sources in California, the Original Grandpère vineyard owned by Terri Harvey. It had been years since I had tasted a Renwood wine, so it seemed like a reasonable place to start.

There is a back story, however, and it explains why my shop has never developed a relationship with Renwood: First, in the very early days of launching Carpe Vino, I spent a lot of time exploring the Sierra Foothills AVA because our strategy was to focus on our own appellation—even though, quite frankly, the foothills was (and still is) viewed sadly as a distant second cousin to the celebrated regions of Napa and Sonoma.

My search back in 2002 took me directly to Amador, where I it seems gems could be found at every stop along the wine trail. While we were welcomed warmly wherever we went, our reception at Renwood was, to be charitable, “chilly.” In retrospect, I can understand why: Renwood is perhaps the largest producer in the county—upwards of 120,000 cases per year—and I’m sure the tasting room, overrun by 40,000+ visitors annually, deals daily with wannabees claiming to be in the wine business. Still, my less-than-civil encounter there offended my Midwest sensibilities, and, as a result, we’ve never found room for Renwood at Carpe Vino.

Even if we had been received at Renwood like visiting royalty, however, the wines still would have been a tough sell for us. That’s because Renwood is a volume producer of value wines priced at under $10, along with a series of premium wines. From our perspective, this two-tiered approach can be confusing to buyers who discover the less expensive “Red Label” series in the chain stores and then find Renwood wines priced above $30 in fine wine stores. For some, this results in a disconnect between price and value. We had the same issue with Montevina/Terra d’Orro, also in Amador, a winery with capacity over 100,000 cases. Nice enough wines—to be sure—but just not a solid fit with our wine shop model.

I decide to return to Renwood after reading a piece written by Mike Dunne, the Sacramento Bee’s legendary restaurant and wine critic, who marveled at the winery’s performance in the 2009 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. Renwood took home 13 medals, including gold for its 2005 Jack Rabbit Flat Zinfandel (Amador) and 2005 Grandpère Vineyard Zinfandel (Amador). Turns out Montevina/Terra d’Orro snared an impressive 10 medals, so go figure.

Learning that Renwood’s Grandpère Zinfandel won gold was no surprise, based on the consistent quality and intensity of the fruit from this storied, circa 1860s vineyard and from its progeny vines. It also reminded me of the controversy and intrigue behind the original vineyard’s ownership and use of the name “Grandpère .” The story, which many people would like to forget—on both sides of Steiner Rd.—was sensationalized in a San Francisco Chronicle piece in 2005 written by W. Blake Gray. I re-read the piece recently on SFgate.com, and it illustrated painfully how deeply passions can run among those in this industry, intense personalities who are driven to succeed.

I’m focused on the here and now, so I asked a distributor contact to try and arrange a tasting and tour for me with Renwood’s Winemaker David Crippen. Not only was the response to this request enthusiastic, I was asked if I had time to have lunch with Dave at the winery. I met Dave some years ago, and I remember him to be, well, a really nice guy, so I looked forward to hooking up with him again.

Dave greeted me in a deserted Renwood tasting room early on Thursday afternoon.  (Customers were few and far between at all of the wineries I visited on the Thursday and Friday during my tour of Amador, but tasters were in abundance on Saturday).  I was pleasantly surprised when he let me know that Rene Smerling, a vice president of Renwood and wife of owner, Robert Smerling, would be joining us.

My, what a difference from my earlier experience, the details of which I am confident Mrs. Smerling—a most gracious host—was unaware.

Though he was absent, I surely felt the presence of another person, Renwood’s founder Robert Smerling, a Boston native and former Wall St. high flier and venture capitalist specializing in biotechnology.  A rabid and lifelong Red Sox fan, Smerling smiles down from a photo in the tasting room wearing a ball cap emblazoned with a stylized “B”.  From what I’ve read, he is a forceful entrepreneur who is not afraid to play hardball. . .including filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy last October on behalf of Renwood’s parent company in an effort to force a lender to come to the bargaining table.  The winery has not sought protection, according to the web  site, WineIndustryInsight, and during my tour of the facilities—including observing a bottling line running full bore—it appeared to be business as usual to me.

Smerling’s goal in establishing Renwood some 17 years ago was to position it as a world-class zinfandel producer and, according to the winery press kit, “merge the best of the old and new world viticulture practices, to preserve our heritage and protect the environment.”  It would seem Smerling has also merged his substantial financial and marketing acumen to amass a 400-acre estate with 200 acres in vines, and, at the same time, wrest control of the Grandpère  brand, easily the most valuable in among Amador’s cadre of about 40 wineries.

No question that the Renwood story makes great reading, but my principal interest is the wine, and I tasted more than 15 during lunch.  Though there were just three of us, Mrs. Smerling’s generous buffet of sandwiches, salads and desserts would have easily served a dozen guests.  We chatted at a table set up in the Heritage Room, reserved for private parties and a part of the spacious Renwood Hospitality Center.

Rene related the Renwood pro-forma story, and Dave shared his extensive background in winemaking.  He earned an MA from U.C. Davis in 1987 and worked first at Kendall Jackson, then moved on to Covey Run in Washington state for a 12-year stint before joining Renwood seven years ago.  As winemaker here, he has bonded with Amador’s signature variety, zinfandel, from which he makes a half dozen wines.

Dave, who commutes from Folsom, lets the vineyards do the talking in this very special terrior:  “The climate is just different here at 1,600 feet backing up to the Sierra.  I work with what I’ve got,” he explained, “and the Amador zin flavor profile is unique in the world.”  He said there is a lot going on with the juice he produces:  “holiday spice, cigar box, cooked fruit but not super jammy, blackberry, cinnamon, nutmeg and white pepper.”

The Smerlings founded Renwood in 1993 and soon expanded the estate by purchasing the Santino winery.  The first year of production yielded 2,300 cases, but at its peak in 2005, production hit 150,000 cases. . .tapering to about 120,000 in 2009.  The 18 wines produced are sold in all 50 states and 16 countries, including brisk business in Japan.  The massive Chinese market offers potential for the future, according to Rene.

Because Renwood hand picks all its fruit, Dave positioned it has the “largest boutique winery in the world.”  He said, “We produce all of our wines in small lots, but we do it on a large scale.”  His benchmark is turning 800 to 900 estate grapes into wine, along with a similar tonnage purchased from other vineyards.

Renwood’s Red Label series of wines is its financial backbone, most priced at $11.95 per bottle but sell for $10 in the box stores.  This group of Sierra Foothills wines includes zinfandel, barbera, syrah, viognier and pinot grigio, all pleasant enough interpretations of the varieties at this price point.

Its “Amador” or black label series is Renwood’s sweet spot, with a memorable barbera, a syrah and these zins:  OVZ, Fiddletown and Jack Rabbit Flat.  These wines are priced from $17.95 for the 2006 Syrah to $29.95 for the 2007 Jack Rabbit Zinfandel.  My favorite of the group was the 500-case 2006 Barbera, which took home gold medals from both the 2009 California State Fair and the 2009 San Francisco Wine Competition.

While Renwood is noted for its deft handling of zinfandel, its barbera has garnered the most recognition and awards in competitions, according to Winemaker Crippen.  In fact, it takes more than 22 single-spaced pages for the winery to list all of the awards its portfolio has earned since 2002.

At the end of the day, prodigious hardware not-with-standing, Renwood’s flagship vintages are its Grandpère and Grandmère Zinfandels, which it positions as “proprietary wines”.  At $39.95 and $34.95 respectively, these wines are pricey, but zinfandel aficionados step up with platinum cards in hand.  Oddly enough, though it has not scored as well as its partner, I preferred the Grandmère; I appreciated the full fruit flavor, subtle spice and rich, abundant finish.

The Grandpère fruit is sourced from a parcel planted behind the Renwood winery, not from the Original Grandpère vineyard across Steiner Rd.  This is an important distinction, so I’ll quote the winery’s web site:  “This 20 acres vineyard is home to the oldest clone of Zinfandel in America. Believed to be 130 years old, this unique clone produces one of the biggest, spiciest Zinfandels. This vineyard is planted on its own rootstock and is classically head pruned.”

The Grandmère fruit is, again from the web site, “. . . a blend of the finest Zinfandel vineyards that reside throughout the hillsides of Amador County’s gold country: Jack Rabbit Flat, and Crain-Sleeper Ranch. These vineyards provide us with fruit from ancient vines. We choose the name Grandmère® (or “Grandmother”) because fruit from these vineyards usually results in a wine that is consistently warm and friendly, gracefully mature and immediately inviting.”

These are small production wines.  Just 1,850 six packs of the ’06 Grandmère and 1,890 six packs of the ’06 Grandpère were produced.  Both come in at 15.5% alcohol, about average for foothills zins.

Rounding out the Renwood line up are a very unusual 2007 Amador Ice ($34.95 for 375ml), cool enough to coax a double gold from the Chronicle judges; a tasty 2008 Orange Muscat dessert wine ($16.95 for 375ml); and a 2004 Vintage Port ($34.95 for 750ml).

That’s a lot of wine.

The fact that Robert Smerling is a stogie lover is borne out by the fact that he offers two brands of cigars.  I don’t know if its Renwood and Apollonia cigars are proprietary blends, but I purchased three  robustos and enjoyed one sitting outside my Airstream the first evening in front of my portable fire pit.

After lunch, Dave and I toured the Renwood production facility, one that has an industrial feel due, I’m sure, to the sheer amount of wine produced.  He sent me on my way with a signed bottle of his 2006 Amador County Barbera, greedily consumed with grilled lamb at dinner in the Airstream.

I really didn’t know what to expect from my return to Renwood, but I went away with a new appreciation for the wines and the people who make it.  Both Rene and Dave were generous in the time they afforded me, and the wines were uniformly wonderful.  No doubt, the brand soon will appear on the racks at Carpe Vino.