Blog

Mar 06, 2024

Cordant Winery winemaker David Taylor chooses quality

Dan Berger There wasn’t anything “wrong,” really, so it would be incorrect to say, as Robbie Burns might have put it, “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley.” Still, several vintages

Dan Berger

There wasn’t anything “wrong,” really, so it would be incorrect to say, as Robbie Burns might have put it, “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley.”

Still, several vintages into his ownership of his Cordant Winery that David Taylor founded in Paso Robles he had reached an impasse, he said. Taylor believed something wasn’t exactly going where he envisioned it should.

Despite making excellent wines starting in 2014, the arrow wasn’t pointing directly at the proper target, Taylor said. But he also knew of the pitfalls of mid-river equine swaps. It’s tricky and often not sane. But Taylor had experienced the stability of high-technology startup companies and knew Cordant needed a course correction.

His original plan was sound. It entailed what he called a vineyard-focused approach, noting that “great wines can only come from great vineyards.” That part of the equation was solved when he contracted with more than a dozen fine, small vineyards in California’s Central Coast.

The first wines were nicely made and typical of their cooler climates. But in chatting with Taylor, I got the impression he had never really been enamored of what he had wrought.

At a recent luncheon, we tried a few of the more recent vintages. They were lovely wines, but with no particular focus on a style — certainly not the style of wine that Taylor thought he could make at Cordant.

Since the wines all were selling relatively well, it meant that to make radical changes risked alienating some in his loyal customer base. That’s chancy and could create problems.

Cordant began as a research project. Taylor, a wine lover, wasn’t yet savvy about all the vineyards that might go into making the style of wines he preferred, which lean in the direction of delicacy. The wines, he said, would avoid the more popular richness and obviousness of so many popular wines.

While deciding which sites he’d buy fruit from, he met growers, walked vineyards, and settled on 16 vineyards spanning 180 miles along the Central Coast, focusing on vineyards cooled by marine winds.

Such cooler regions generally keep natural acids in the wines higher than in warmer areas. Though the wines often take a little extra time in both the winery and in bottle before they display their proper completeness, it’s the style Taylor desired.

Among the areas he purchases fruit from are Santa Maria Valley, Santa Rita Hills, Santa Lucia Highlands, and the Gabilan Mountains.

The first seven vintages showed some of the splendors of the vineyards, but more than a year ago, employing what I can only assume was objective introspection, Taylor looked on his previous vinous progenies and saw something unsettling.

“I really liked the wines,” he said, but he said he wasn’t completely satisfied. He knew changes were needed. He said he believed he needed to focus on, among other issues, lowering alcohol levels.

“I wanted to create more finesse in the wines,” he said.

Most people who write about wine and are trained journalists usually go into a story, seeking a tale to tell, but one with a conclusion. It’s my normal strategy when researching wine columns. I seek a summary in which a key deduction is reached.

This one turned out to be different. Although I tasted several of the current-release Cordant wines and found them to be quite good, all of them were made by a prior regime.

It wasn’t until 2021 that Taylor hired semi-retired Scott Stelzle as winemaker. He was lured back to full-time work and was pleased to join Taylor since he’ll be working with superb cooler-climate fruit.

Then, just a few months ago, Taylor added as assistant winemaker Ryker Wall, a former sommelier who knows a lot about cool-area winemaking.

All of the 2021 wines Cordant brought to the recent tasting in San Francisco are still either barrel or tank samples; not one has yet been released, so it’s not possible to draw any definitive conclusion about Cordant Winery’s new direction.

However, from what I tasted of the new-direction wines, Taylor, Stelzle, and Wall made the correct decisions. In the young wines, there is better definition, better varietal expression, and better structure. As good as the previous wines now show, what’s ahead clearly is more along the lines that Taylor originally envisioned.

Change always is risky, but in the Cordant Winery case, the late course correction put the ship into smoother waters.

Wine of the Week: NV Le Grand Courtage Grande Cuvée Blanc de Blancs Brut, France ($17) – This non-vintage sparkling wine is a well-made, simple, appealingly fruity example of a well-priced and festive bubbly. The aroma shows apples and a hint of blossoms, and the mid-palate is relatively rich for a dry wine. A companion rosé is slightly sweeter.

Get local news delivered to your inbox!

The lingering effects of a wet winter and a cool spring have Napa Valley grape growers anticipating the latest harvest in years.

Mustards Grill wine auction supports CANV; Butter Chardonnay by JaM Cellars teams up with Club Crackers and more.

Continuing our Porto adventure, we decided to spend day two a bit closer to home. A short ride across the river brought us to Vila Nova de Gai…

Robert Mondavi Winery opens Arch & Tower in downtown Napa; Mustards Grill wine auction supports CANV; Butter Chardonnay by JaM Cellars tea…