There’s A New Rock Star in Town!

By Nikki Berglund
Staff Writer

This summer, whenever someone would ask me to suggest to them my favorite wine, my answer was almost always the Charles and Charles Rosé. Although I usually tend towards a French Rosé style, this wine, new to Fargo this summer, blew me away the first time I tried it.  Now that Rosé season is pretty much over, and all of the C and C Rosé is gone for the year anyway, it’s time to move on to bigger and better things. One of these things just happens to involve Charles Smith, one of the collaborators of the Charles and Charles label and he is producing some intriguing alternatives at some very reasonable prices. Don’t worry though, if you missed your chance to try the Rosé this year, it will definitely be back next summer.

In the short amount of time they have been available in Fargo, the wines of Charles Smith have been generating quite the buzz. These wines couldn’t have partnered with a more qualified group of people than our new local wine distributor, Dakota Wine Merchants who will be representing them in our area. Specializing in more of the boutique style wines, they focus mainly on family-owned wineries, leaving the more mainstream conglomerate type wines for the bigger guys. These wines are popping up on wine lists all over town and are rapidly making their way onto the shelves of our local liquor stores as well.

After a successful career managing rock bands in Denmark, Charles Smith completely changed his tune after a visit to Walla Walla, Washington. As a native of Northern California, he had grown up around wine making but had never attempted it himself. His first winery, specializing in Syrah, a grape that grows very successfully in Washington State, he named K Vintners, as in “K Syrah Syrah.”  While he was waiting for his first plantings to mature, he was proactive in buying and running a little wine shop in Seattle, giving him not only a first-hand look and taste of his competition but also an insider’s view of what was new and exciting in the industry. This and it also allowed him to pay his mortgage.

Smith quickly found success with his Syrah endeavors. In 2009 he was named Winemaker of the Year by Food and Wine Magazine. Robert Parker, a rock star himself in the world of wine, has awarded fifteen of his wines scores between 91 and 99 points. While K Vintners is known exclusively for its Syrah, Smith also wanted to create a winery that would showcase the other great Washington varietals at an affordable price. For this purpose he founded Charles Smith Wines: The Modernist Project which features a Riesling, Chardonnay, Merlot, Syrah and Cabernet.

According to the website, “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 either 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.”

In this line of wines, you will find the Kung Fu Riesling, Eve Chardonnay, The Velvet Devil Merlot, Boom Boom Syrah (currently sold out in many places in Fargo so if you see it, get it!) and Chateau Smith Cabernet Sauvignon. These wines are value priced ranging from around $11-$20 retail.

I like that these wines are unique in one way, yet provide a true and honest representation of their varietal at the same time. Bring one of these to a party and people will be as interested in the story of the wine as they will be of the great juice in the bottle. According to a Wine Spectator article, Charles Smith presents us with “a wine style which lets you know immediately who made the wines.” That’s pretty impressive for some dude who just decided one day to quit his rock and roll job in favor of stomping grapes for a living. Wouldn’t we all like our gambles to pay off so well!

This fall, keep your eyes out for a big old party featuring the wines of the Charles and Charles portfolio paired with an amazing menu from Mosaic Foods in Fargo. This event will be held at their new space, Mezzaluna, formerly The Silver Moon. Keep your eyes out for all of the details because this will be one soirée you definitely won’t want to miss!

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