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Wine Details
Price:
Description:
This is the long-awaited follow-up wine to the 2001 vintage that won many accolades across California, including the Herbert Walker award as best Zinfandel of the El Dorado appellation.
It is a joy to work with the fruit from the outstanding, high-altitude Sumu-Kaw vineyard (2,900 feet.) The end product is big and rich with a natural multi-layered port-like quality. Zinfandels from the El Dorado appellation typically carry a very pleasant raspberry flavor characteristic and that shows prominently in this wine.
The grapes were crushed and fermented in small, open-top containers. After pressing and settling the wine aged for 17 months in mostly neutral French and American oak barrels. Racking was done via gravity flow and the wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered.
The light touch on the oak and minimalistic winemaking style causes all the Zinfandel fruit character possible to show through in the finished wine.
This wine is drinkable now; cellaring is recommended for no more than four years from bottling in order to enjoy its fruit-forward character.
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Varietal Definition
Zinfandel:
Zinfandel is a variety of red grape planted in over 10 percent of California wine vineyards. DNA fingerprinting revealed that it is genetically equivalent to the Croatian grape Crljenak Kaštelanski, and also the Primitivo variety traditionally grown in the 'heel' of Italy. It is typically made into a robust red wine. Its taste depends on the ripeness of the grapes from which it is made. Red berry fruits like raspberry predominate in wines from cooler areas such as the Napa Valley, whereas blackberry, anise and pepper notes are more common in wines made in warmer areas such as Sonoma County. Many Zinfandels come from head pruned ‘Old Vines’. ‘Old Vine’ is generally understood to mean a vine that is more than 50 years old and that produces less than three tons per acre. ‘Head Pruning’ is an old European style of pruning that trains the vine into the shape of a goblet. It requires no wires or other complex trellis systems. Head pruning spreads the fruit uniformly along the vine and allows light penetration.In the USA a semi-sweet Rosé (blush-style) wine called ‘White Zinfandel’ has achieved widespread popularity. In fact, this popularity has so outstripped all other forms that many fans think there is actually a grape called “White Zinfandel” (there isn’t)!
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