Tasting with Charles Smith of K Vintners

On February 17th, from 4.30 to 6.30 PM, Charles Smith of K Vintners will be at K&L Wines here in San Francisco. Why do you care?

- Charles Smith is a badass.
- Charles Smith makes some really badass wines.

(I also think that Charles Smith is tied with Sean Thackrey for "winemaker I would quit my job to go work for sweeping the cellar floor" or maybe "winemaker I want most to adopt me.")

What more do you need to know? Well, Smith started K Vintners in 2001, after living in Denmark and managing rock bands for years (he toured with the Cardigans and the Raveonettes, among others). In 1999 he was trying to think of something else to do when he ran into Christophe Baron of Cayuse while on a stateside road trip. Supposedly they had had a few bottles of wine and discovered their similar views on the subject when Baron supposedly told Smith he should move to Walla Walla "...because everyone here thinks I am an asshole." Smith replied, "You are an asshole," to which Baron said, "I know that. And so are you. If you move here we can make great wine...."

Thus, a friendship and K Vintners was born. Smith sources some of his grapes from the Cayuse vineyards, and also does crazy stuff to his grapes like ferment at high temperatures (like some Chateauneuf-du-Papes) and destem as he sees fit (he also crushes by hand... or, I guess, foot). He has fairly European sensibilities about what the wine should be and allows the wine to reflect the terroir instead of being fruit-driven. His wines are big, earthy, and powerful, and he names them intriguing things like "The Boy" or "The Beautiful". Or "Motor City Kitty".

Smith runs K Vintners and makes Syrah (the pun, K Syrah, is indeed intentional) and also has a second label humbly titled The Magnificent Wine Company. Both labels use striking black-on-white simplistic labelling on the bottles. I have only had the MWC House Wine and liked it, but have had a few of the K Syrahs here and there, so I am looking forward to trying some more. I sent a good friend a bottle of the Morrison Lane for Christmas and he said it was the best Syrah he had ever had (I love the Morrison Lane, and am hoarding some of it and The Beautiful right now).

I met Smith briefly at the Wine and Spirits Top 100 tasting last October, and helped him carry down some boxes of stuff from the tasting, before I embarrassed myself later by getting really drunk (I am helpless in front of magnums of Flowers and Etude Pinot Noir, but I learned my lesson there) and making random people I know meet him. He is gruff and very wry and funny and I liked him, even if he did think I was a moron that night.

So the tasting is at K&L (4th Street between Townsend and Brannan) this Thursday, from 4.30 to 6.30 PM. I am not sure how much it will be and what will be poured, but I am definitely going to get home early enough to go, even if I have to get to work stupidly early to leave in time. You should go, too, and taste some really awesome wine.