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Wine Details
Price:
$36.00 per bottle
Description:
Cherries jubilee, bourbon vanilla beans from Madagascar, attar of rose, orange peel & sage, all stored in a cedar cask deeply carved with well developed Rubenesque figures of dancing ladies. If the macho Tonesi Zin is Hemingway’s Blood in the Afternoon, then the Old Vine Martinelli is his visit to a Havana brothel in the early evening, an innocent outing purely to research female characters for a lost feminist novel he was known to have written. As with the Old Vine Tonesi, this Martinelli Zin also spent 47 months aging in neutral oak, but at a lower 17.12% alcohol it is somewhat more restrained.
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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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