A Visit w/ AdamWebb/Odisea (8/21/09)
Several weeks ago, we tried a set of the Odisea wines, mostly from Lodi, and I was mightly
impressed...and not just for Lodi wines. Since I had a free afternoon, I decided to take the opportunity
to stop in Napa and meet AdamWebb and find out more about Odisea.
Odisea (http://www.OdiseaWineCo.com) is a partnership of two OK (as in Oklahoma) guys, Adam and Mike Kueuz.
Adam used to be a winemaker w/ Ray at Elyse. Mike is in marketing at WillametteVllyVnyds. Their first
wines were the '04 vintage. In '09, they will reach about the 5,000 case level. The wines are currently
being made in the FalcorWnry, in the industrial bottoms of the town of Napa. Much of their grapes come
from Lodi because the price is right and they're impressed (as am I) with the quality of many of the
grapes being grown in Lodi. As they increase production, they've been looking more to Napa, Sonoma, and
MendocinoCnty. They particularly like the grapes that BillyCrawford grows up there. We tried:
1. Odisea Dream SuenoVnyd/Lodi Albarino 2008: Light gold color; lovely floral/fragrant/honeysuckle/
honeyed lush/ripe nose; tart light oak bright/pear/floral/honeysuckle slighht minerally flavor; long
bright/floral/honeyed light minerally finish; doesn't have the stoney/steely character of Spanish
Albarino but an attractive underlying minerality w/ all the lush fruit; more like Calif Roussanne
than Calif Albarino; lovely wine. $18.00 (but sold out)
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2. Odisea Cochon GrenacheBlanc ClementsHills/Lodi (14.8%; + Marsanne & Roussanne) 2008: Light gold color;
very intense floral/ripe/honeyed/appley/mellony/pineapply/Viognier-like very perfumed nose; soft
intense/lush/loads of fruit floral/pineapply/melony/honeyed slight oldRhone/hazelnutty flavor; very
long soft/rich/ripe/lush floral/pineapply/melony slight nutty/oldRhone finish; big/ripe/concentrated
wine that resembles Viognier more than GrenacheBlanc. $25.00
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3. Odisea TemporaryInsanity ClementsHills/Lodi (90% Tempranillo, 5% Grenache, 5% Mourvedre) 2007: Med.
red color; very bright cherry/black cherry/spicy slight earthy classic Temp nose; tart bright/spicy
cherry/black cherry/Temp light dusty/earthy flavor w/ some tannins; med.long bright spict/cherry/
black cherry/Temp slight tannic/bitey finish; needs a few yrs; lots of bright Temp cherry fruit. $25.00
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4. Odisea TheWanderer Syrah ContangoVnyd/PetalumaGap/SonomaCoast (Biodynamic) 2007: Dark color; beautiful
blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah bit peppery/cracked white pepper some smokey/pungent nose; tart rather
cracked white pepper/cold-climate strong blackberry/Syrah light pungent/smokey flavor; very long some
cracked white pepper/minerally strong berry/blackberry/Syrah finish w/ fair tannins; an impressive
cold-climate Syrah; some like the Cline CoolClimate Syrah but much more structure and interest;
an impressive Syrah and the best Odisea I've had to date. Great price at $25.00
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5. Odisea Cochon Syrah MassaRanch/Yountvilla/NapaVlly (14.5%) 2007: Dark color; strong clean/spicy/
blackberry/black cherry/Syrah light toasty/smokey/oak slight earthy nose; tart rich/spicy/blackberry/
Syrah light toasty/oak somewhat tannic flavor; long bright/berry/blackberry/spicy/Syrah light toasty/
oak finish w/ some tannins; needs 2-6 yrs; much like the Rocca Syrah but w/ less oak; very good
example for an up-Vlly Syrah.
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And a wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Cochon: This is a new wine for them. So-named because it's fermented & aged in French hogsheads.
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2. I discovered the Odisea wines over a month ago when I was back in KansasCity. I then ordered the
full tableau from their WebSite, tried them, and was impressed. Adam's wife is an attourny for
a large KC firm and was assigned to their small SanFrancisco office. Good moove, methinks. Thus
far, I've been pretty impressed by their wines and proud to brag that I followed them from the
very start. Definitely a wnry to watch.