NEW! First there was K Vintners, then the Magnificent Wine Company and now winemaker Charles Smith brings you his latest revelation. Charles Smith Wines: The Modernist Project is a response to how people generally consume wine today, that is immediately…as in immediately after being purchased at a market, restaurant or bar, to be drunk straight away. Wine in this category is typically ether simple, or is a wine that would be much better a few years down the road. 'Modernist Project' wines are about putting as much into the bottle as possible. The intent is to create wines to be enjoyed now, but with typicity with regards to variety—that is merlot that tastes like merlot—and to the vineyard—wine that tastes like where it was grown. The wines are full of flavor, balanced, and true to their place of origin.
Charles Smith Wines has been making a splash with its Kung Fu Girl Riesling. With a label image made in Smith’s iconic black and white style, this wine has been making Riesling inroads across America – and says Washington State in bold black letters on the front of every label. To call this an ambassador wine, however, would be a misnomer; it is a one wine Riesling fighting machine.
Fruit for the Kung Fu Girl wine comes from Evergreen Vineyard in the proposed Ancient Lakes AVA region. This area is currently one of the locations in the state where Riesling has shown the most success. In fact, much of the fruit used in Eroica comes from this vineyard. Other wineries, such as Efeste, make superb vineyard-designated bottlings.
The vineyards at Evergreen – which are currently rapidly expanding - are full of fractured basalt and caliche deposits. Combined with a cool location leading to wines with high acidity, Riesling from Evergreen has a minerality that makes devotees swoon.
Owner-winemaker Charles Smith with his big hair, kick ass attitude and bold packaging arrived in the Walla Walla Valley following eleven years in Scandinavia managing rock bands. Originally hailing from northern California, he has been involved with wine personally and professionally his entire life.