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Winemaker Charlie Gilmore of Cormorant Cellars
Winemaker Charlie Gilmore’s tenet is that simplicity makes the most efficient wines. He put that philosophy to the take a look at when he based Cormorant Cellars in 2018, making a small selection of unfined, unfiltered, Previous International taste wines from qualified natural grapes grown in Sonoma, Monterey, and the Santa Cruz Mountains.
Cormorant wines are 100% winery sourced and grown with out artificial insecticides or artificial fertilizers. Whilst Gilmore is hands-on within the vineyard, he remains out of the way in which of the wine, the usage of best ambient yeast from the winery, an absolute minimal of sulphites, minimum manipulation by way of pumps or equipment and no freezing. The ensuing wines—Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, a Grenache Blanc/Marsanne mix and a brand new purple mix of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot—display readability and function, with brilliant, intentional acidity and a stylistic profile of California wines of a long time previous.
Cormorant Cellars varietals
When it got here to naming his solo winemaking venture, Gilmore idea again to his formative years circle of relatives journeys to Monterey the place he and his dad spent hours looking at and photographing the coast’s iconic, freewheeling cormorants. That reminiscence of satisfied occasions in California’s recent coastal breezes made the verdict simple.
Born in Sacramento, California, Gilmore knew something for sure when he began to take into accounts a profession. Attending UC Davis as an undeclared primary, he remembers, “I didn’t know what I did need, however I knew evidently that I didn’t need to be caught in the back of a table in fluorescent lights. And I knew I sought after to make one thing tactile, one thing bodily actual, now not supply products and services.” Gilmore ventured into an “Intro to Grape Rising” magnificence which piqued his pastime, and he graduated with some extent in Viticulture and Enology.
Charlie Gilmore exams his grapevines
Between 1999 and 2004, he labored in a number of roles with a variety of wineries: Artesa, Rosenblum, Gundlach Bundschu, St. Hallet (Barossa, Australia) and Caves du Cazaubon (South of France). “I sought after to peer an unlimited array of various takes on winemaking and trade profiles which can be utterly other,” mentioned Gilmore, who lives in Santa Rosa together with his spouse and daughter. “I sought after to revel in other wines made in several types and introduced to the buyer in utterly alternative ways. That schooling within the paintings international was once price such a lot.”
In 2004, he joined Fetzer the place he remained for 12 years overseeing all the white winemaking and as lead winemaker for the Fetzer emblem. Within the remaining 4 of the ones years, he oversaw the purple wines as smartly, maximum significantly Jekel Vineyards.
However he at all times sought after to make his personal wines, particularly Sauvignon Blanc, and in 2018 his likelihood arrived. “It took me 18 years however the timing was once just right, and a few superb fruit was once made to be had from a pal who additionally had area at the back of his vineyard,’ mentioned Gilmore. ‘All of it begins with nice fruit from an ideal web page. Then I exploit principally seven-year-old French barrels and a few stainless drums to make my white wines. As soon as the juice is within the barrels and drums, we use at least equipment and don’t freeze the wines. My winemaking is designed to stick out of the way in which of the wine.”
Cormorant Cellars’ celebrated Sauvignon Blanc
For Gilmore, Cormorant Cellars is the whole lot he was hoping for. “It’s about possession: if it’s just right it’s my luck and if it’s dangerous it’s my fault,” mentioned Gilmore. “That is precisely the place I need to be.”
Tastings of Cormorant Cellars wines with Charlie Gilmore are to be had by way of appointment at Grand Cru Customized Overwhelm, positioned at 1200 American Method in Windsor, CA. To ebook an appointment name (707) 836-3730.
Cormorant Cellars wines are to be had at make a choice retail in California, Texas, Arkansas and Quebec and by way of the website online right here.
Footage by way of Alison Handbury
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