1996 Cabernet Sauvignon

La Jota is far from the only winery in California that must deal with the spoilage yeast brettanomyces, but proprietors Bill and Joan Smith are among the most candid in discussing it. The Smiths are among the handful of winery owners who understand that steps widely taken to deal with brett (such as adjustment of pH, heavy additions of SO2 and excessive filtration) can be far more hazardous to drinking pleasure than the problem itself, robbing the wine of richness and personality. If chemical analysis shows that his wines are stable, Bill Smith prefers to bottle without filtration. A few of the wines I tasted on my recent visit were wild animals, but my experience with La Jota reds from the '90s is that they offer far more hedonistic pleasure than the overwhelming majority of bottles from California.