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| The Karl Lawrence spread in the kitchen of winemaker Mike Trujillo |
Whether at his home atop Howell Mountain in the Napa Valley, or on the road leading a tasting on the Carlton Street home of Barrel Select in Toronto, Mike Trujillo is the most engaging of consummate winemakers. His tales carry the scope of his roots herding 3000 head of sheep in the Colorado ranch lands, to ducking an engineering degree for life as a Napa cellar rat, and every bit of it contributes to the story unfolding in the glass. While his wines at Karl Lawrence have sung for themselves for decades, sharing a tasting with the man behind the wine lays in that back beat that really packs the dance hall.
Its been a long journey to iconic Napa winemaker. Mike began this trek in the barley fields of his family ranch in Colorado.
"Seeing 3000 sheep is mind-boggling", he offered up in one of his parables this afternoon at a private tasting here in Toronto. From the farm he moved on to an engineering degree, which came to a crashing halt during a vacation with college pals. Moving up the California coast from LA, his travelling band stopped at a family friends' new farm in the not quite yet famous Napa Valley (Paris tasting and subsequent Time mag article notwithstanding). They pitched a hard day on the farm and returned to that archetypal California style supper with a grand spread of whole birds, sides and all the fixings. They stayed on a few more days and each was the same. It wasn't long after he called home to try and explain to mom, that he wasn't going back to school.
From there he worked as a farmhand in what geeks like myself may dub the Golden Age of California wine, in which many of the most revered appellations in Napa came to life. Using his background in engineering, he helped build many of the now iconic Carneros vineyards. Yet the journey really came into focus over a dinner and a chance tasting of that oh so famous muse of vinophiles, the red Burgundy. It was the kind of eureka moment that lit the fuse for him to intern at Sequoia Grove as cellar rat, while paying for his winemaking education at UC Davis. It was the perfect fermentation tank for his development, putting the lessons from the classroom into practice, day in day out, under the guidance of Napa icon, André Tchelistcheff. That would be like the young boxer sparring with Mohammad Ali, for those not familiar with Dean of American winemaking. It was Andre who bestowed upon Mike his most defining lesson, which was simply, to never follow the pack. With his Jedi training in full bloom, he Skywalkered himself in front of St Helena's elite, looking for financial backing to launch his own brand of wine. While most wished him luck, fortunately for us, one man stayed behind, cheque in hand. Together they formed Karl Lawrence, and the rest, is delicious history.
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| Mike holding court over a dozen bottles of wine |
Sourcing your grapes is one of the most defining challenges to the California winemaker. Land costs in Napa make buying farms the game of multimillionaires, and thus securing quality product has evolved into the kind of thing thats buried friendships, severed family bonds and ended dynasties. Through his consummate professionalism, Mike has secured fruit from some of the best vineyards in Rutherford, St Helena & Howell Mountain. The resultant blend of quality fruit from distinctive terroirs has resulted in a painter's palette of juice from which he can paint his vision into each bottle.
The Aldin represents his bordeaux blend, designed to be silky & approachable, yet dancing with adventurous spirit of the Cabernet Franc. The 2009 is a definitive example of this. The herbacious wild child nature of the Franc sews together the mix of valley floor and mountain vineyard character, and finished off with merlot, it oozes drinkability, without giving up its calling as a food wine.
His line of Karl Lawrence Cabernets represent the heart of the production. Blended from the grapes sourced from 4 vineyards (To Kalon, Morisoli, Herb Lamb and Dr Crane), each year he assembles his masterpiece. Most recently, as of 2009, the blend includes grapes from his own vineyard, located on Howell Mountain, which really sees him glowing with pride. The development of his own vineyard allows the craftsman a new level of control right down to the farming techniques, which can only mean a greater expression of his vision of cabernet. At a recent tasting at his home atop Howell Mountain I was blessed to do a vertical tasting. While the current release from 2009 delivers well on his vision of blending ripeness from the valley floor with the pepper and spice from the mountainous vineyards, with each vintage dating back for 7 years, you see a growth in the expression. As these wines grow in the bottle, they truly become something of an otherworldly dimension. At ten years of age a Karl Lawrence Cabernet becomes something that Dionysus might gift Zeus, just to show him whose boss.
Asked what vineyard in Napa he might purchase, if he fell into a winning powerball lottery ticket, he quickly answered, "Morisoli". His love affair with this vineyard is not without merit. In strong releases he will put out a small lot of single vineyard reserve wines from whichever of the source vineyards he feels is worthy (in the remarkable 2007 vintage he for the first time released one for each vineyard). These wines really allow an insight into his painters palette, as you can taste the signature style the individual vineyards represent. Having tasted all of the 2007's I will return to my boxing analogies. While the Dr Crane is drinking today as the crowd favourite, it represents an Arturro Gatti, a young prizefighter dancing in his prime. Meanwhile, the Morisoli is most definitely the Mickey Ward, entertaining in his youth but still awaiting his best years as the ultimate warrior. The famed "Rutherford dust" exhibited here gives an elegance of the highest order. Buy this Cellar this. Drink like the Gods.
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| Mike Trujillo, myself, and Bruce Langstaff, knee deep in some vino-hedonism |
Most interestingly, for one of Napa's most esteemed producers, you will never see a rating beside one of his wines. In the most punkrock of fashions, he refuses to submit his wines to critics. Firstly, he opposes the influence that one person can have over the popular palette. We can return to his experience in herding sheep to understand that the leading publications have the sheppards touch over the masses. I cant count the times I have seen people pour out money for the most pedestrian of wines because Robert Parker gave it a 92. Conversely, time and again, the sheep at the counter will pass on the tastiest of wines because it wasn't in Wine Spectator's Top 100. Its a travesty. And its one Mike has no desire to participate in.
"I have always submitted my wines to one critic and she's always scored it 100. My mom loves my wine."
He also notes a secondary reservation to the critics and its one that hits home to me. While the golden age of food writers were about celebration of excellence, the modern hack seems hellbent on miserables. Today critics seem emboldened to play Vader, choking out the meek throughout the Galactic Empire, rather than to write about what excites them.
"If something is bad, then it will sort itself out. That's business. If its no good than it will either change or it will go away. There's no need to throw darts at someones dream."
I couldn't agree more. The golden age of food writers, the Grimod de la Reyniere, Brillat-Savarin, they were celebrationists of this newfound pursuit of culinary satisfaction. Today we are stuck with the Amy Pataki's of the world, who seemingly build their own self worth by shattering the dreams of others in the cruelist of fashion. My only hope is a new generation of Corey Mintz's and Chris Nuttall-Smith's who seem to get that its of greater worth to celebrate the highs, than to deliver the blows. As the Wine Doctor Ed Finstein once told me, if you can't write something nice, write about something else.
Its in seeing this humanist side to Mike that really adds a finishing touch to enjoying his wines. In seeing him share his home with some marauding vinophiles, while his daughter dropped her toys down the staircase. In hearing his story, from roots to the barrel. In seeing his passion for everything he does. That's Karl Lawrence. Salud.
