Frog’s Tooth Winery – Making Strategic Moves!
This is not so much a wine review but a recap of a 4+ hour discussion with the owner/managing partner Larry Aderman discussing the winery, the wines, their new winemaker Tana Cole and how they are elevating their game plan for the winery.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
First a little history about Frog’s Tooth Winery. The vineyard was planted in 1999? With the first wine being produced in 2005. Frog’s Tooth Winery opened their tasting room in Murphys on Main Street, just down a side alley. They have over the years offered up to 31 different wine varieties, have a loyal and vibrant wine club and generally enjoyed, no pun intended, the fruits of their labor. One interesting tidbit while driving out to the winery is passing the Salt Spring Valley School constructed in 1869 that was the school house rumored to be used in the show Little House on the Prairie.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
So what is changing? The First initiative was hiring Tana Cole as their head winemaker. Tana comes to Frog’s Tooth with an extensive background making wine in Michigan, Napa, Lodi, Sonoma and now in Calaveras County. Work has already begun with “beefing up” the soil preparation, pruning and cleaning up the vineyards on the winery grounds located in Copperopolis. When a new winemaker comes on board it typically takes 1-2 years to get through both the white and red varieties of wines as the head winemaker. Tana and Larry are not waiting entirely for this to happen. They are strategically buying “juice” from well- known producers to augment their lineup starting in 2024. At least two new offering are in the works.
The Winery
Picture of cleaned equipment waiting for this year’s harvest. Photo ©Michael Kelly
Today they are growing 7 red varieties of wine and 2 white varieties on their estate. Their end goal is to have all the wine be estate grown. Currently the wines being produced at the winery include Viognier and Sauvignon Blanc for whites. For their red wine line up, they are producing the following: Petite Sirah, Barbera, Grenache, Malbec, Syrah, Shiraz and Mourvèdre. The current vineyard estate is 67 acres with 10 acres planted. Here were some of the wines tasted and reviewed during the visit.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
Over the years they have for their wine club offered various cruise events, private parties at the winery, concerts, overnight camping, tasting in the vineyards, etc. Their wine club is dynamic and involved with the winery. In fact a recent cruise through Slovenia and Czechoslovakia had 76 Frog’s Tooth wine aficionado’s join.
One of the more interesting events coming up for the Frog’s Tooth Winery is a gourmet food pairing at Taste in Plymouth, California. Taste was the first restaurant from the Sacramento region to cook at the prestigious James Beard House in over twenty five years. It is also rated by ZAGAT as one of the Top Restaurants in America. This six course meal is one not to miss on Wednesday, July 17th.
New Strategic Initiatives
While continuing with their current offering, they are planning:
- More events for their wine club members and general following with more events being held at the winery.
- Besides the current 9 wines (2 whites and 7 reds), they are securing juice from well-known wineries to augment their offering both immediately and for next year.
- Frog’s Tooth will be offering more “member home parties” for small private tasting.
- They have already purchased some new capital equipment to monitor closely the status and well-being of the wines fermenting. One such item is a Sentia which monitors sodium dioxide and VA. Another key item is a new steamer to thoroughly sanitize and sterilize each barrel in preparation for the next harvest.
- A new change is producing each wine in small lots using their tanks rather than bins. This will give them significantly more quality control with temperature regulated tanks. Each lot will have constant monitoring and getting a full report from the local wine laboratory.
- A new label was created and painted by the talented Kendall Fox to launch two new wines (stay tuned). This is in recognition of the history of the Salt Spring Valley, specifically Madam Felix a French woman who ran the local post office and whom the district was named for. Also honoring Hunt road where the winery is located.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
I can’t disclose too many of their other plans, but they are taking a wholesale renaissance of Frog’s Tooth Winery with a decided bent on quality.
Sláinte,
Michael