Vin de Napkin – Bogeyman

Non-interventionist wine lovers, those that espouse a natural and sustainable winemaking ethos, can set aside their Clark Smith Voo Doo dolls and talismans warding off the bogeyman and purchase a second set for new public enemy #1 – Eric Dahlberg, President of American Winesecrets.

Smith, right or wrong, had come to be the face of the technology movement in wine with his company Vinovation.  By applying technological services like reverse osmosis, de-alcoholization and a bunch of other things that are viewed as manipulation of wine, he became something of an un-exiled pariah. 

Regarding technology manipulation in wine, most consumers do not understand it (or care) and most winemakers will not go on the record about its use, thus it truly is a secret, even if Smith would fall on his sword with analogies defending the black art of technology usage in winemaking in lengthy tête-à-têtes.  See Appellation America for a couple of examples.

Simply, to somebody like Alice Feiring, Clark Smith is as close as you can come to being the wine anti-christ.

Now, according to Wines & Vines, Smith and his partner have sold their patented reverse-osmosis technologies and alcohol reduction services to a company called American Winesecrets.  This feels like an important development.

It seems Smith is going to continue to consult and make some wine and work on other sideline projects, but largely move on from Vinovation.  This is probably good for Smith (though I suspect he enjoys a good verbal joust), but potentially bad for the purchaser, Dahlberg.

The upshot of this is American Winesecrets, a dubious name if there ever was one, uses the tag line of, “Technologies for a Sustainable Wine Future.”

Hmmm … if Clark Smith enjoyed defending Vinovation, at least he did not have to do it a combustible name and positioning like “American Winesecrets, Technologies for a Sustainable Wine Future.” 

This ought to be interesting …