Slamdance Koöperatieve Wines, Red Table Wine Central Coast 2020

Slamdance Kooperatieve is the brainchild of Daniel Callan, a young, ambitious winemaker who is intent on bringing historical identity back to Paso Robles.  With that in mind, Daniel is charting a path in Paso Robles that is re-defining what consumers and producers think of the region. A native of Virginia, his passion for wine and history started while working part time at Sunset Hills Winery as a student at George Mason University.  It was here that Daniel found his calling for winemaking and a pull to learn more about the history of American winemaking and historical vine material.  From there he worked harvests in Australia, New Zealand, California, and South Africa.  It was South Africa that truly shaped Daniel’s desire to make classically styled wines with minimal intervention.  Daniel landed in Paso Robles as a harvest intern and eventual assistant winemaker at Thatcher Winery where he remains today. 

Slamdance Kooperatieve is a regional wine predicated on the old “generic” wine types that were the staple of the wine industry in California before Prohibition.  Wines that were often passed off as “California Burgundy” or “California Claret” that were stylistic blends of workhorse grape varieties.  The Slamdane Kooperatieve Red Blend is a return to this type of traditional blend, 43% Napa Gamay (Valdiguie), 36% Black Malvoise (Cinsault) and 21% Pinot St. George (Negrette).   Similarly, the methods used to produce the wine also harken back to the earliest efforts of California winemaking.  Because of the technical limitations of the time, the wines were essentially de facto natural wines.   The Slamdance Red is hand harvested and fermented with native yeasts using a majority of whole clusters, basket pressed, aged in neutral oak and just a small amount of sulphur at bottling. 

The Slamdance Kooperatieve Red Blend is sourced from three sites within the central coast of California and made from heirloom vine material – Shell Creek Vineyard for the Napa Gamay (Valdiguie), Glenrose Vineyard for Black Malvoisie (Cinsault) and Siletto Vineyard for the Pinot St George (Negrette) and is a throwback to the historic winemaking and style of the region.   Daniel Callan is one of the most exciting, new producers coming out of Paso Robles and this is a wine not to be missed!!!

VINIFICATION: In order to keep the processing as unintrusive as possible, only a small portion of each ferment was destemmed (15-25%), while the remainder was crushed by foot only enough to avoid carbonic characters in the wine. The fruit was then placed in open top, used puncheons, which were resealed for the initial 10-12 days. There was no yeasting, nor any additions of any kind. The vessels were kept in the barrel room (58F), and were only unsealed once fermentation was noticeably underway. Pigeage was done by hand, every other day, and the fermentations proceeded very slowly but also very predictably. Once the fermentation neared completion, the vessels were resealed, and left to macerate until pressing. All lots were basket pressed, one on top of the other, on Oct. 31, about 50 days after picking. Juice was siphoned into tank, and the vessels were dug out by hand. Juice was not allowed to fall into the press pan, but was caught at the basket and then transferred via hose to tanks.

AGING: Lots were barreled down, using gravity, to 265L barrels. Once the barrels were filled, they were “hard bunged” (no fermentation bungs), placed in the barrel room, and never disturbed or battonaged. There was no heating to attempt to push the wine through malolactic fermentation, and the wine’s temperature stayed at a constant 58F. Once through ML, the wines received a 25ppm addition of SO2, followed by a second 25ppm addition 10 days later. Racked by gravity, and according to Rixford, on a clear, cold day with a wind from the north, just before the Vernal Equinox (March). Because the barrels had been so still for 5 months, the lees were quite settled and very compact, so making a clean racking was very easy. Lots were racked together into tank for blending, analyzed, given a 5ppm SO2 addition to offset oxygenation from racking, and then returned to neutral 500L barrels.

PRODUCTION: 150 Cases

Central Coast, CA

43% Napa Gamay, 36% Black Malvoisie (Cinsault), 21% Pinot St George (Negrette)

14% Alc

ORGANIC. MINIMAL INTERVENTION