(B. Leighton Gratitude Olsen Brothers Vineyard) Hello friends. We have small parcels of a trio from Wines of Substance (the new name for Charles Smith’s umbrella company overseeing all of his labels. Our K/Substance offers are always feeding frenzies, so let me offer two quick notes: 1. To the best of my knowledge, we have retail dibs on all three of these wines west of the mountains. 2. I suspect we’ll have to under-allocate here, given the parcel sizes, so a quick reminder of our allocation technique: Our allocations favor breadth over depth, so that everyone gets one bottle before anyone gets two. And our formula for prioritizing allocations includes overall orders, frequency of orders, recency of orders, and list tenure, among other factors. Now, onto what you’re here for—the wines:Gratitude is a field blend of 70% Mourvèdre, 25% Grenache and 5% Syrah from higher elevation Olsen Brother’s vines that were planted in 2010, harvested at a miniscule 1.7 tons/acre. This wine saw 100% native fermentations, zero destemming, 33 days on skins, and was aged in 100% neutral puncheons. This is the first time we been able to offer Gratitude, so it’s a real treat for our list members. Vinous: Copyrighted material withheld. Wine Advocate: Copyrighted material withheld.
By Paul Zitarelli
(B. Leighton Gratitude Olsen Brothers Vineyard) Hello friends. We have small parcels of a trio from Wines of Substance (the new name for Charles Smith’s umbrella company overseeing all of his labels. Our K/Substance offers are always feeding frenzies, so let me offer two quick notes: 1. To the best of my knowledge, we have retail dibs on all three of these wines west of the mountains. 2. I suspect we’ll have to under-allocate here, given the parcel sizes, so a quick reminder of our allocation technique: Our allocations favor breadth over depth, so that everyone gets one bottle before anyone gets two. And our formula for prioritizing allocations includes overall orders, frequency of orders, recency of orders, and list tenure, among other factors. Now, onto what you’re here for—the wines:Gratitude is a field blend of 70% Mourvèdre, 25% Grenache and 5% Syrah from higher elevation Olsen Brother’s vines that were planted in 2010, harvested at a miniscule 1.7 tons/acre. This wine saw 100% native fermentations, zero destemming, 33 days on skins, and was aged in 100% neutral puncheons. This is the first time we been able to offer Gratitude, so it’s a real treat for our list members. Vinous: Copyrighted material withheld. Wine Advocate: Copyrighted material withheld.Full Pull Brennon and Charles, 7/22/2018, (See more on Full Pull...)