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A California Legend
Joseph Swan | By Kevin Pelley
Joseph Swan was one of the pioneer’s in California winemaking history. Joseph found his way to winemaking by a unique path. Raised on a farm in North Dakota by teetotaler parents, it wasn’t until his retirement as airline pilot that Joseph took up winemaking. After purchasing a farm in the Russian River Valley in 1967, Joseph made his first vintage of Zinfandel the next year without any background in enology or viticulture. Through trial and error and under the guidance of the great André Tchelistcheff (considered by many to be America’s most influential winemaker ever), Joseph began making some of the best wine in California’s history.
During this time, Joseph took many trips to France trying to expand his winemaking knowledge. He spoke to winemakers and some of France’s most noted vignerons hoping to improve his techniques. He returned to the Russian River Valley with some revolutionary methods of winemaking that, until then, hadn’t been practiced in America. These techniques included whole cluster fermentations, extended maceration of his red wines (to impart more color) and fermenting without the addition of sulfur. Today these practices are commonplace, but in the late sixties they were considered racial.
Joseph Swan’s place in history was cemented when a unique clone of Pinot Noir was found in his vineyards. The origin of this particular clone is unknown, but speculation and historic lore is that they were “suitcase clones,” literally smuggled through customs in a suitcase, from the world famous Domaine de la Romanée-Conti estate in Burgundy. The University of California in Davis since has designated this particular clone as the Joseph Swan clone of Pinot Noir. Many producers today have grafted this clone into their vineyards and today it is widely planted throughout California, and is known for its particularly spicy character.
Since Joseph Swan’s passing in 1989, his son-in-law Rod Berglund has continued producing highly limited, handcrafted wines of balance, elegance and complexity in the same style Joseph pioneered. Here are a few to look for:
2006 Joseph Swan Vineyards Pinot Noir “Saralee’s Vineyard” $34.95 | Beautiful red fruit flavors of wild strawberry, red cherry and rhubarb merge with floral notes and bright acidity resulting in a complex and compelling wine. Only 698 cases produced.
2007 Joseph Swan Vineyards Pinot Noir “Trenton View Vineyard” $39.95 | Wild, gamey and meaty notes are immediately present on the nose and palate of this wine. The fruits are darker in nature, recalling black cherries and black raspberries. This is a delicious wine now with a potential to age for a decade or more. Like all of the Joseph Swan wines, this is bottled unfiltered and unfined resulting in a slightly cloudy hue. Only 193 cases were produced.
2006 Joseph Swan Vineyards Zinfandel “Zeigler Vineyard” $29.95 | This is a restrained style of Zinfandel that exhibits fruit flavors of boysenberry, fig and raspberry. Floral, elegant and balanced, this is a Pinot Noir lover’s Zinfandel. A minuscule 121 cases were produced.
2006 Joseph Swan Vineyards Zinfandel “Stellwagen Vineyard” $29.95 | Don’t let the relative light color fool you. This wine explodes with delicious Zinfandel character of jammy ripe berries, black pepper, and blueberries.
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