2015 La Storia Zinfandel Block 303 Alexander Valley

Most Highest Scoring Wine in Wine Access History

This is the new vintage of the highest scoring wine in Wine Access history. Before you finish reading this, enough Wine Access members will have clicked on the “Buy” button to make our always-too-small allocation disappear. In the last three vintages, Zinfandel maestro Miro Tcholakov’s La Storia Zinfandel off Reserve Block 303 has racked up 693 4-star scores from Wine Access clients and a historic 336 perfect 5-star reviews. In 2015, a vintage Wine Spectator called “excellent for Zin,” Miro’s done it again. Enough perfect Zinfandels like this and Miro will rival Paul Draper of Ridge Vineyards for bragging rights to the most acclaimed Zinfandel drawn from the Alexander Valley’s Dry Creek. At only $17.99 today — 50% off — here’s to those who lock down one of our 115 cases. Condolences to the rest.

In the modern era, Paul Draper at Ridge Vineyards and Joel Peterson at Ravenswood brought Zinfandel to the first rank of great California reds. Peterson’s “Dickerson Vineyard” Zinfandel, Draper’s Napa Valley “York Creek” cuvée, and especially Draper’s “Geyserville,” drawn off the Trentadues’ “Old Patch” Vineyard in Dry Creek set the bar by which all Zin-makers would be measured. That’s the proper context for considering what Miro Tcholakov is going for with his La Storia Zinfandel off that same “Old Patch.”

The century-old vineyard wine lovers know as “Old Patch” is just a couple hundred yards from the famed Geyserville Vineyard the Trentadue family farmed for Paul Draper at Ridge. The ancient, head-trained Zinfandel bushes tower nearly 6 feet high, and date back 121 years. But they lack the wire trellising that helps growers manage leaf canopies. In especially hot summers, the bush plants suffer, unable to protect bunches from sunburn and blistering. But in the perfect summer of 2015, off the Trentadues’ Reserve blocks, Miro Tcholakov crafted the most voluptuous, utterly bombastic La Storia Zinfandel since 2009.

• ABV 14.90%
• 1 hour
• Drink Up
• % Zinfandel
• Serving temperature – 62°