2016 Dashe Cellars Reserve Dry Creek Zinfandel Dry Creek Sonoma

Q. What’s black and white and red all over?

A. The nation’s two most important newspapers for wine criticism. Both anointed Dashe’s ruby Zinfandels as reigning favorites in 2020.

Zinfandel may be “America’s grape,” but with wines like this 2016 Dry Creek Reserve, Dashe Cellars continues to make a crusader’s case that it can make a serious, versatile, restrained red that stands tall with its Old World peers, and pairs well with more than just barbecue.

The San Francisco Chronicle’s wine critic recently headlined her glowing piece, “Dashe Cellars Will Change Your Mind About Zinfandel,” and indeed, some of the best Michelin-starred restaurants in the United States have included Dashe on their lists, including Chez Panisse, The French Laundry, Per Se, Le Cirque, and Alinea. From coast to coast, it’s one of the few Zins that top chefs know will frame their food with the kind of nuance it requires.

Yet Dashe’s extremely limited 2016 Dry Creek Zinfandel takes even that golden reputation up a few notches with this Reserve, which typically goes for $35 exclusively at the winery. At over 30% off, this is a chance to experience a truly top-of-the-line Reserve Zin at an entry-level price.

Initially characterized by Zinfandel’s trademark smashed dark raspberry, blackberry, and dried strawberry aromas, this Dashe Reserve taps a deep well of complexity that comes to life with tones of cherry balsamic, dried roses, resinous herbs, licorice, dark chocolate, and spicy incense. Full and juicy on the palate, there is a serious intensity captured in its structural breadth and impressive length that will allow this to continue aging for another decade.

Back when Mike Dashe was an intern at Château Lafite-Rothschild, he never thought that one day he’d make wine from some of the oldest, most important vineyards in America. Neither did French-born Anne Dashe during her long days of brandy-making at Rémy Martin. But their work eventually took the husband-and-wife team back to California, where they made their names at top producers like Ridge, Schramsberg, Chappellet, and Far Niente.

Their first vintage of Dry Creek Zinfandel was produced in 1996, and Mike and Anne created this winery-only 2016 Reserve bottling to commemorate Dashe Cellars’ 20-year anniversary, and pay homage to their Dry Creek beginnings. A selection from their best barrels of single-vineyard Dry Creek Zins, the result is a serious wine composite of all Dashe’s greatest vineyard hits. Composed, layered, and authentic, this Reserve offers so much on top of its beautiful fruit.   

Dry Creek is internationally renowned for its old vines (as old as 60 years in the Reserve’s case), which deliver concentrated flavors in each flavor-packed grape. Mike and Anne’s European wine training means they take a minimalist approach in the cellar to coax out the unique soil, climate, and regional character of these seminal Zinfandel vineyards.

They allow spontaneous small-lot fermentation with indigenous yeasts—using 15-20% whole cluster to bring the fruit to life—employ no fining or filtration, and only use 20% new French oak to be sure the delicate terroir profiles aren’t overpowered.

Dashe Cellars was among the three Zins that the New York Times’ Eric Asimov recommended in his July 2020 piece, “Revisiting Zinfandel from a Less Brawny Angle”—the second time he’s featured a bottle from this Wine Access team favorite producer. As Dashe continues to capture the Zinfandel zeitgeist for today’s most prominent wine literati, Mike and Anne’s most limited bottlings like this 2016 Dashe Cellars Dry Creek Reserve will only get harder and harder to find.

Especially at our $25 price—the best you’ll find anywhere. For any lover of bold, structured reds, this Dashe Reserve is for you. 

• Fruit Intensity
• Oak Intensity
• Body
• Acidity
• Tannin

• ABV 14.50%
• 15 mins
• Now – 2030
• 92% Zinfandel8% Petite Sirah
• Serving temperature – 60°
• Cork