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2012 Ballentine Zinfandel Pocai Vineyard Napa Valley … and Phylloxera-Resistant St. George Rootstock In the 19th century, in the tiny village of Pujaut in the Languedoc, botanists discovered a tiny sap-sucking insect that was feeding on the village’s vines. At varying speeds, depending on soil content and rootstock, the aphid-like pest deformed roots, cutting off…
95pt Mike Dashe and Geyserville Zinfandel “Two Patch” Up until the late 1960s, Zinfandel was little more than a jug-wine grape. But in 1969, a 36-year-old Stanford graduate, fresh off a brief stint at Château Latour in Pauillac, was named head winemaker at Ridge Vineyards.In just five years, Paul Draper — working almost exclusively with…
Zin-Master Bill Knuttel: “No More Marriott Courtyards” We first discovered Bill Knuttel’s single-vineyard Ottimino Zinfandels in 2010, just as the extravagant 2007s were set to be released. Among Zinfandel insiders, Knuttel was well known for crafting rich, juicy, wild-berry Zins in the spirit of Peterson at Ravenswood and Draper at Ridge. But, as we learned…
Ancient-Vine Handshakes on Bleached Delhi Sand In the 1980s, an aphid-like pest that had ravaged Europe at the beginning of the 20th century invaded Northern California. By 1990, nearly all of Napa Valley had been uprooted and replanted, decimated by Phylloxera. But as Old World winegrowers learned a century ago, vines planted in fine, sandy…
Matt Cline’s 2012 Zinfandel Evangelho Vineyard — “I took down the sorting table!” It was one of the more uncomfortable conversations/negotiations of the last seven years. Since 2009, we’ve championed Matt Cline’s 100-year-old vine Zinfandels, lauding them as the most extravagant in California. WineAccess members have loaded their cellars with Three Zins. In short-crop harvests…
No “Next Time” on a Zin This Rare The 2013 Chester’s Anvil Zinfandel is a Napa Valley lightning strike: a gorgeous wine born of an inspired joint venture between former Mondavi winemaker Steve Lagier, accomplished UC Davis enologist Carole Meredith, and coveted consultant Aaron Pott (Blackbird, Quixote, Somnium). The three legends worked together for just…
A Night to Remember: Zinfandel at French Laundry It was one of the most original food and wine pairings of our 30 years on the wine trail. We’re not talking about George V sommelier Eric Beaumard and that striking match of a dry 1925 Bual Madeira with traditional beef consommé. Nor are we speaking of…
When we talk about rarity, we don’t just mean ultra-expensive, better-not-touch bottles. We’re also talking about those that unlimited funds can’t even buy you, wines whose barrier isn’t price, but the simple fact that you don’t see many of them around. The kind we wish we saw a lot more often is prime, cellared Zinfandel….
500+ 5-star Ratings on Ottimino Zinfandels and the “best damn looking stuff I’ve seen” When we first discovered Bill Knuttel’s single-vineyard Ottimino Zinfandels, we knew what we had in hand. Knuttel had already made quite a name for himself as head winemaker at Saintsbury and Dry Creek. But as we’d been told by Zin gurus…
From Piedmont to the Iconic Pagani Ranch On any given week at WineAccess HQ there’s likely to be more than a dozen fresh sample bottles of California Zinfandel buried in our eurocave. But we choose only a few producers to work with. Why so few, we’re often asked? Too often we taste samples that just…
Overcoming Stage Fright at Gary Danko They’re the toughest Bay Area restaurants to crack. If you’re a boutique Zinfandel producer, it’s hard enough to land a sales call at San Francisco’s Gary Danko, Boulevard, or RN74. But it’s something else altogether to convince the keepers of the city’s finest cellars to feature your new release…
A Hungarian Rhapsody at Evangelho Vineyard When the work week was over, fathers and sons piled into buggies, heading north from the Port of San Francisco. It was early February. As the immigrants waited for the early morning ferry, they huddled around a fire, telling stories of the old country in a mix of Italian…
A Parker Favorite Zin—Now Your New Go-To Zin lovers know where the good stuff is: Biale, Matt Cline’s Three Wine Company, Turley, Bedrock, or Paul Draper’s Ridge. But here’s one you might not know about: the 2014 Amapola Creek Zinfandel Monte Rosso Vineyard is a pure and concentrated dollop of outstanding Zin. Dense red and…
In the realm of rare, world-class Zinfandels from Napa Valley, this Elyse single-vineyard bottling is a prized treasure, which we worked hard to secure for our Wine Club members—and the last few bottles are now available in The Store. Sourced from the Morisoli Vineyard at the heart-center of Rutherford on the famous bench, surrounded by…
“Old Patch” Zinfandel Cuttings on Whitten Ranch Leo Trentadue fondly calls it “Old Patch,” but to those less familiar the century-old vineyard is known as Whitten Ranch. As we walked the rows of ancient, head-trained Zinfandel, just a couple hundred yards from the famed Geyserville Vineyard that the Trentadue family farmed for Paul Draper at…
Bill Knuttel’s Claret-like Ottimino Zinfandels have garnered over 500 5-star ratings and reviews from Wine Access clients—one of the highest totals in our history for any winery’s under-$20 reds. Knuttel’s mastery at extracting single-parcel hits from some of Sonoma’s oldest vines is matched by his knack for crafting a cult master blend each year from…
Rare 90-Year-Old Russian River Vines Seghesio Family Vineyards tends and produces some of the finest old-vine Zinfandel in Sonoma County, so it takes a rare vineyard — one like this 90-year-old Maffei Ranch — to produce the kind of prestigious old-vine Zinfandel that captures their attention. This 2014 Seghesio Maffei Vineyard Zinfandel Russian River is…
120-Year-Old Vines and a Great American Zinfandel Standing in the New Delhi sands amidst the 120-year-old vines in Contra Costa County the produced the 2014 “Mazzoni” made clear why this is one of the most spectacularly concentrated, ethereally complex Zins in California. The vines produce miniscule berries — very few at that — with the…
Bursting with black-fruit intensity, Matt Cline’s extravagant Three Wine Company Old Vines Contra Costa Zinfandel blend regularly sells out within hours, garnering the most five-star reviews in its category from Wine Access clients. Wine Enthusiast went to town on Cline’s “opulent and ripe” 2014 effort, pinning on 91 points and its Editors’ Choice award. Drawn…
Not Taking the Bait in Sonoma What do you do when you’re a California vintner in love with the wines of Italy, Spain, and southern France? You could forget your passions and take the easy money, planting Cabernet Sauvignon like everyone else. Or, you could work hard to create a spectacular oasis for Mediterranean…
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