Dain Wines: An Interview With David Dain Smith, Part One

PICTURES LEFT TO RIGHT: (“The Mad Scientist at Work” or “Behind every successful Man, there is a Strong Woman, rolling her eyes”) His words. The picture is from last year's crush at CrushPad. David Dain is taking sugar readings and Cathy is writing them down. PICTURE TWO: Proud Father! David Dain holding a bottle of "American Beauty", Amber Ridge Pinot Noir, right of the bottling line. (CLICK PICTURE TO ENLARGE)

I first encountered David Dain Smith while posting on the famous Mark Squires’ Wine Bulletin Board. I noticed we had many similar tastes in the variety of styles, particularly Pinot Noir, that we enjoyed. It was also nice to see that he was a person that always had something nice to say to people. Knowing his first vintage was about to be released and the unique situation of not living in “wine country”, I thought it would be fun to introduce you all to this artisan. As you read, remember that David Dain purchases grapes and does not own the vineyards…at least not yet. This is a very common practice, particularly with Pinot Noir.

I hope you enjoy the interview as much as I do. I think David Dain has much to offer not only in the world of wine but also in life in general. He and his wife Cathy are working to make this world a better place in so many ways. God Bless them and their family.

• Where are you from and where are you now?

Currently Cathy (my wife) and I live in Springfield, Missouri. A lovely small city, deep in the Ozark Mountains. Really nothing too close to this ‘city’ but farms and forest and Lakes. We were both born here, we were (are) high school sweethearts. We have three nearly grown children. We have lived in Philadelphia, Denver, Kansas City and St. Louis before moving back to the Ozarks. My day job requires a large amount of travel so I am bicoastal, even while living in the Midwest. Cathy has projects in Nicaragua, Central America, so we travel a bit. She participates in Medical Mission trips as often as she can.

Since we are used to a lot of travel, it is an easy thing to commute to the winery in San Francisco.

To answer the question of where we are now, I should elaborate regarding our winery. We use the custom crush facility at CrushPad in San Francisco.

We are able to contract with top flight vineyards, consult with great winemakers, design our own ‘wine-making plan’ and make what I consider, great small-lot pinot noir and syrah!

• What do you prefer to be called? David, Dain or Reggie?

My friends call me David Dain, so I hope you will too. It is kind of a southern thing really. David or Dain is fine. I use Dain as a handle for business purposes usually. Hence, Dain Wines.

• What are you drinking right now? If not now later?

Kosta Browne Sonoma Coast 2002. Very nice pinot from some very nice folks. I am partial to Sonoma and Russian River Valley fruit. I drink a fair amount of wine from Anderson Valley and love wines from the Central Coast of California. I am a fan of burgundy but am still just learning all of the appellations and producers of that area.

• Career? How did you get where you are now?

I am now, and have been for some time, a marketing executive for a large pharmaceutical company. Prior to that, I was a microbiologist. I have always had an interest in Better Living through Chemistry. My current career has been a source of satisfaction for me for quite a while but I am preparing to move into a different phase of my life. Do what you love and you will never work a day in your life….unless you make wine, which is work everyday. :-)

• What is the story of wanting to make wine? Have you been making wine at your home? So called garage wine?

Actually that is exactly how I got started. Cathy indulged me some time ago and allowed the construction of a ‘wine studio’ in the back section of our garage. I began with some purchased St. Vincent grapes. St. Vincent is a hybrid of Pinot Noir and Chambourcin, available only in Missouri. It was the closest thing to pinot I could get for starters. I was hooked immediately. Still, I wanted to work with California fruit hence our move to CrushPad. In my humble opinion, California is the source of the best fruit for wine in the world. This coming from a HUGE fan of burgundy BTW.
(Scrutiny Note: Pinot Noir is the red grape of Burgundy, in France. Many would consider Burgundy the king of Pinot Noir. In part two we will discuss the general differences between Burgundy Pinot Noir and California Pinot Noir)

• What are the financial goals? Break even? Make a little? Buy a Rolls?

I have heard it said, "if you want to make a small fortune in the wine business, start with a large fortune." We have no illusions about making any kind of fortune but our goal is to concentrate on small lot single vineyard Pinot Noir and Syrah. We believe our business model will afford us a modest profit if we can get to somewhere in the neighborhood of 1200 to 2000 cases.

• Is it your goal to be a full time winemaker or full time in the wine business?

It is my long term goal for winemaking to be my sole profession. I desire to leave the so-called corporate world and manage our wine label as our only business, even though this will take some time. I love having purple hands (and a purple tongue) :-) .

• Do you think winemaking should be left to certain people (professionals), or can anyone try it?

I would encourage everyone to try it. Kits are available for the novice and CrushPad can enable a group of friends to share a barrel! When I am there I usually pitch in to help with whatever wine needs something done. It is a great environment and plenty of non-professionals are making wine a barrel at a time.

• How would you define success as a winemaker?

Happened just a few nights ago. I was at a wine dinner and a very nice young lady came back to a bottle of our Sojourn Syrah, poured herself a nice pour, smiled and said “I really like this!” I believe wine is a convivial beverage. Wine is best paired with friends. Of course friends with food is great too. Enjoyment of wine is about the joy of the moment and the memories created. If our wines help bring enjoyment to the lives of our customers, I am a successful winemaker.

• Do you have any favorite wine makers?

Heavens yes! Brian Loring is one of my favorite people period and I love his wines. I don’t know Sean Thackrey or Manfred Krankl but I love Thackrey wines and Sine Que Non wines. Unfortunately, it is virtually impossible to find these wines so it is a good thing I have many favorites that are a bit more obtainable. I mentioned Loring wines, you can actually find them. Adam Lee at Siduri, and Wells Guthrie at Copain all make really good wine you can actually find. Rene Engel (RIP) was a favorite in burgundy. Denis Mortet is great too. Mortet makes a Bourgogne rouge that is cheap and good!

(Click Here to see The Scrutiny Review of one of Brian Loring's wines)

• Is your own wine one of your favorites? I know so many of my favorite food dishes are prepared by me and I crave them. Can you say the same about your wine?

One of my goals is to make wine I enjoy drinking. So far I have been pretty successful in doing that. So I can say yes, my wine is one of my favorites. I have lots of favorites in addition to my wines of course.

• How did your passion for wine begin? Was there a single wine that started it all for you?
  

My father introduced me to wine about 30 years ago. We shared a simple meal with a simple bottle and my memory of the event is so strong as for it to have been yesterday. I remember thinking ‘what a wonderful way to live’ enjoying simple pleasures.

• How many cases will you produce? How does that compare to a company like Beringer or BV?

Hopefully soon, we will make somewhere between 1200 and 2000. Most likely the number is closer to 1200. We intend to focus on small lot, single vineyard premium Pinot Noir and Syrah. Typically about 8-12 barrel lots will be our target level for any individual vineyard. We are not even a gnat flying around the head of a giant like Beringer or BV.

• How do you market your wines? Where are they sold?

Our wines are sold via mailing list. Information is available at http://www.dainwines.com/. We hope that someday our production will reach a point where we can offer some to retail outlets, maybe later this year. Our only real marketing is pouring at wine festivals and word of mouth. That will have to do for now, we can’t afford an ad in the Wine Spectator. :-)

• What is your favorite wine/food movie?

“Year of the Comet” a comedy about the 1811 Lafite Rothschild. I am not particularly a fan of “Sideways” FWIW.

• So will you drink Merlot?

Gosh yes! One of the best wines I have ever tasted was 100% Merlot. The 1975 Petrus was perhaps the best wine of my life. But this question is not about Petrus (hell, who can drink that more than once a decade?) but rather do I enjoy Merlot. I find that I drink less and less cabernet and or merlot based wines. I still have many bottles of Bordeaux in my cellar but I will probably sell it. I love Pinot soooooo much, it’s what I drink. If you want a really great merlot for a reasonable price; 2001 Havens Reserve Merlot ($35)…my favorite and terrific!!

Stay tuned for part two of the interview with David Dain where we will look deeper into the man as well as discuss grape "clones" and the differences between Burgundy and California Pinot Noir.

In the meantime, please post any questions you may have for David Dain as well as drop by his web-site and sign up for his mailing list. And if you are so inclined, order a few bottles and see, smell and taste what this artisan has created. Be sure to tell him The Scrutiny sent you.

Check back soon for Part Two!

Cheers,

Jason