Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1011938
66 { THE SOMM JOURNAL } AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2018 AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2018 Nth Degree Wines: A Winery Within a Winery When Fifth-Generation Winemaker Karl Wente started at Wente Vineyards in May 2002, the Nth Degree proj- ect had yet to be named. The Wente family had often discussed producing separate bottlings to showcase the quality of the region's terroir and heritage vines, but had never introduced a small-lot program to their portfolio of offerings. Karl Wente's previous post-grad stints at Peter Michael Winery in Knights Valley and Brown Brothers in Victoria, Australia, provided him with considerable experience in boutique wine production, planting the seed for Nth Degree. By the time the growing season began in May 2002, the idea of a "winery within a winery" had imprinted itself in Karl's mind. He worked with the viticulture team to choose the finest blocks for the project, then farmed them to their highest potential by instituting quality- intensive viticultural practices. "I was like a kid in a candy store getting to choose amongst the best blocks and do everything I could to stand on the shoulders of gi - ants like my uncle Phil and the other people who were there," Karl says. "There's just a lot of great lineage of knowledge to work with." After that first grueling harvest, during which Karl and the crew spent nearly 40 hours in a two-day period tending to the lot program in the cellar, the team decided that the wines called for their own designation. Karl recalls Phil saying, "You know, Karl's out there doing everything to the nth degree to try and make the best possible wines. So how about we call them the Nth Degree by Wente Vineyards?" Everyone agreed, and thus a brand was born. Karl says the differences between this project, which began with roughly 500 cases of five varieties, and the rest of the Wente Vineyards portfolio lies in the details. "It's really about the oak profiles and the best fruit, which generally means we're dropping a little bit more fruit and spending more money in the vineyard," he explains. "We're also getting a smaller yield so we have a higher cost per ton." And thanks to the influence of new French oak barrels, sur-lie aging, and weekly bâtonnage, "it's definitely a higher touch, but all of our wines are loved, so I don't want to take away from the others," Karl adds. Fifth-Generation Winemaker Karl Wente in one of Wente Vineyards' heritage blocks farmed exclusively for the winery's Nth Degree bottlings.