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SAMSÓ ???
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OMG
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NAPOLEON MUST HAVE BEEN A FAN

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More Zinfandels of Interest



GAMBA
The Gamba winery produces big, pushing-the-envelope, fasten-your-seatbelt kinds of Zinfandel.  These are not for the faint of heart or consumers looking for elegant, refined red wine.

They make wine from their own vines as well as purchasing grapes from a Windsor area vineyard called Moratto.  

Production in the vineyards is small, typically less than a ton of grapes per acre.  

We currently have the 2007 "Estate Vineyard" Zinfandel, a big, jammy, "gobs o' fruit" kind of wine.  It's potent and deep, so pairing it with flavorful foods is a good idea.  I don't view this as a good cellaring candidate, finding wines like this tend to be at their best when they're young.  But is sure is showy right now...

Fasten your seat belt and open a bottle of this!
 
Currently in stock:  2007 GAMBA ZINFANDEL "Estate Vineyard"  SALE $34.99






VENGE
We first met Nils Venge in the 1970s when he was working for a little 'start up' winery called Villa Mount Eden.  

I know he had worked at Sterling and Charles Krug before making the dynamite 1978 Villa Mount Eden Cabernet.  

He later toiled for the Groth family and today he and his son Kirk have the Venge label and there's also a brand called Saddleback Cellars.

We're rather fond of a Zinfandel-based blend they make called Scout's Honor.  Scout was the winery dog and remains in spirit.  

The 2005 is predominantly Zinfandel with equal parts of Charbono and Petite Sirah.  Lots of berries and some sweet oak make for an interesting wine.  Deep in color and teeming with fruit, this is a lovely bottle for grilled or roasted meats.

Currently in stock:  2005 VENGE Napa Valley "Scout's Honor"  SALE $34.99

 

TRENTADUE WINERY
We've known the Trentadue family for decades!  We were one of their first customers, buying wine from them in the early 1970s.

Leo Trentadue used to own a jewelry store here on Broadway in Burlingame!  He used to live in the Santa Clara Valley and was sharp enough (or crazy) to buy some old abandoned winery atop a hill in Cupertino...this later became "Ridge Vineyards" and I think he sold it in the 1970s.   He's long been selling Zinfandel grapes to Ridge Vineyards in Cupertino for its "Geyserville" bottling of Zinfandel.  Today the fruit doesn't have to travel so far, since Ridge has a large Sonoma facility for vinifying its Sonoma fruit.

Trentadue routinely made rustic wines back in the 1970s and 1980s.  Finally they hired someone to actually make wine and the quality level increased substantially.

We bought a bottle of their Old Patch Red and found the 2006 to be quite a good wine, much as were the past two vintages.  The old Italian growers used to plant a mix of grape varieties within a vineyard and harvest all the fruit at one time, creating a "field-blended" wine.  That's the idea here, though I am uncertain if this is still, in fact, a field blend.  

The wine is predominantly Zinfandel.  You'll find a nice percentage of Petite Sirah and a little bit of Carignane and Sangiovese, too.  The fruit comes from the Russian River, Alexander and Dry Creek Valleys.  Fourteen months' aging in wood softened the wine and it's a big, robust red with blackberry and raspberry fruit notes and some spice tones.  It's also a good value, in our view.
 
Currently in stock:  2006 Old Patch Red  (Was $13.99)  SALE $9.99





VALDEZ
Wow, is this guy's tale a true "American success story"!

Ulises Valdez was born in Michoacan, Mexico.  His father died when he was seven years old and at age ten he went to Mexico City to help his uncle.  At age 16 he managed to get a job working in a vineyard in Sonoma's Dry Creek Valley after lying about his age.  He caught a break working at the Lake Sonoma winery before striking a deal with a vineyard management firm where he'd work without pay in exchange for an ownership stake in the firm.  By the time the partnership dissolved, it had grown from 30 acres to 600.  Today he farms more than 800 acres and his handiwork is sought after by famous winemakers who rely on Valdez' expertise as a grape grower.

We tasted a couple of wines of the Valdez label and the Zinfandel is a real standout.  It's made by Jeff Cohn, former Rosenblum winemaker whose JC Cellars wines are terrific.

The fruit comes from the Rockpile Road Vineyard in Sonoma's Dry Creek appellation.  It's a big, powerful wine, much along the lines of recent Rosenblum bottlings.  It strikes me as having a little bit of sugar (though probably less than the current Rosenblum bottlings).  The wine is huge, of course, being more than 16% alcohol.  Somehow it succeeds, though, having "gobs o' fruit" as a certain critic likes to say and a nice bit of sweet tones from the oak.  Showy wine, to say the least. 
Only 642 cases were made.
 
Currently in stock:  2006 VALDEZ "Rockpile Road" ZINFANDEL  $37.99






BROWN ESTATE VINEYARDS
The Brown family has been in Napa's Chiles Valley for more than 25 years now.  The family purchased an old fixer-upper back in the early 1980s and over the next decade, or so, they planted something like 40 acres of vineyards.

Having the idea that winemakers who were buying their grapes found something special, the family decided to launch its own label.

The Zinfandel seems to have a loyal following and the wine is a bit different from many Zinfandels.  We tend to find the wine to be sweet and fruity.  There's usually a floral aspect to the candied elements of this wine and this attracts a certain segment of the wine market.  Perhaps you're a fan of Brown Zin?  

The 2007 vintage is a recent release.  Once quarter of the wine is matured in new oak barrels, the cooperage being half French and half American oak.  It's high in alcohol, too, the fruit being picked at a high level of sugar.  Definitely now for everyone...

Currently in stock:  2007 BROWN ESTATE Napa ZINFANDEL $34.99
 
 

 

STEELE WINES
Jed Steele started out as the winemaker for a little Anderson Valley enterprise called Edmeades back in the 1970s.  From there he had a stint at Kendall Jackson, helping refine the style of wine which made Jess Jackson and family the big-time wine barons they are today.  He started his own label in the early 1990s and makes a number of interesting wines.  

The winery is located in Lake County and Jed buys fruit all over California and beyond (he makes a Washington State "Blaufränkisch").  Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are his main varieties, along with Syrah.  Zinfandel has long been a mainstay and we've periodically found good bottles worthy of our recommendation.

In a recent blind-tasting with the Vino Fino boys, we found Steele's 2005 "Pacini Vineyard" Zinfandel to be tops.  It was the sort of wine which reminded us of the style of Silver Oak Cabernet but with deep Zinfandel berry fruit.  The other remarkable feature is the wine is price-worthy and affordable!  (Imagine that in this day when fifty-bucks is viewed as the 'entry level' bottling of California wine!)

The vineyard is in Mendocino and was planted by the Pacini family in the 1940s.  Jed bought the fruit for a number of years before simply purchasing the whole dang vineyard in 1996.  The vineyard ripens in stages so it's picked, typically, over a couple of weeks to maximize ripeness and fruit character.  They declassify various lots which don't measure up and bottle a wonderfully exuberant, berryish, nicely oaked Zinfandel. Minty, too.  

The 2007 is delicious now and will be best over the next year or so...it's not a wine requiring additional cellaring.  It tastes good right now!
 
Currently in stock:  2007 STEELE Mendocino "Pacini Vineyard" ZINFANDEL $18.99
 




SAUCELITO CANYON
One of our favorite Central Coast Zinfandels, this is the work of Bill and Nancy Greenough. They bought the Rancho Saucelito in 1974 from the grand-daughters of the English bloke who first planted vines on the property in the late 1870s.

The Greenoughs found some abandoned vineyards on the estate and nurtured some three acres into production. They have since added another five acres of Zin, plus two of Cabernet Sauvignon. The vineyard is in the Arroyo Grande appellation, south of the town of San Luis Obispo. On the nose there's a hint of plum, prune, herbs and a touch of oak. Brown spices, to a degree, show up on the nose and palate.  The wine is medium-full bodied and not especially tannic. This is one of the few "Central Coast" Zinfandels we like well enough to actually stock in the shop.

Currently in stock: 2005 SAUCELITO CANYON Zinfandel Sold Out















TURLEY WINE CELLARS
turley.gif (7967 bytes)Larry Turley was a partner with John & Julie Williams in establishing a funny little venture called Frog's Leap Wine Cellars.  Larry had a small property just off the St. Helena Highway which was a former frog farm.  Given that stags were leaping prominently elsewhere in the Napa Valley, it stands to reason that frogs should also be leaping.  After a few years the Frog's Leap project was so successful John Williams left his winemaking job at Mike Robbins' Spring Mountain Winery and was full-time at Frog's Leap. 

One day, out of the blue (so I'm told) Dr. Larry (a medical doc) tells Mr. & Mrs. Williams he wants a divorce and he's going to start his own winery making Zinfandel and Petite Sirah. 
The sun shines brightly in St. Helena and many people were commenting that Dr. Larry had been the victim of some sort of brain-frying.  Who, after all, in their right mind, would consider starting a winery to specialize in Zinfandel and Petite Sirah? 


The Williams' duo purchased Frog's Leap and Turley Wine Cellars took over the former frog farm. 
The original winemaker was Dr. Turley's famed sister, Helen Turley.  The keyword here is "was."  The assistant winemaker, Ehren Jordan, is now The Winemaker.  

The Turley wines have achieved "cult" status and are offered on secondary markets for amazingly steep prices. 
We receive a few bottles of Turley wines and always include them in our blind-tastings, allowing a greater number of people to, at least, have a chance to experience these.  

Turley is a believer in achieving the maximum from the various grapes and vineyards.   Yields in the vineyards, for example, are suppressed in hopes of producing a more flavorful grape.  I recall tasting a Robert Mondavi Zinfandel and being impressed.   The following vintage, Mondavi's wine was not so hot.  An enologist at Mondavi explained why:  "Helen Turley." 
She enticed the grower to sell his old vines' fruit to Turley Wine Cellars, instead.   

Old vines don't guarantee good quality.  We're seeing a number of "Old Vines" Zins from Lodi.  Turley makes a Lodi Zinfandel.  But they go there, pay the grower for the obscene quantity of fruit they normally harvest and then tell them they want the vineyard cultivated for a crop level of about two tons per acre.  The growers look at the Turley people as though they're idiots (the same way some thought they must have been out of their minds to focus on Petite Sirah and Zinfandel).  However, the results have been spectacular and, in my view, there oughta be legislation mandating that only Le Methode Turley may be employed in Lodi.  This would eliminate much of the appallingly weak wine coming from those vines!

Larry read a book about the effects of various soils on the vines and purchased the old Pesenti winery in the Central Coast.  I told him about Pesenti's old bottles which resembled the flasks cough medicine comes in.  He was intrigued with the prospects of making Zinfandel from the warm Paso Robles region which is grown on limestone.  The first vintages have been typical of Turley Zins...deep berry fruit, ripe, pedal-to-the-metal...

Turley's are huge, big, ripe, nicely-oaked wines.  They almost always show well in blind-tasting comparisons.  People who are accustomed to high acidity, lower alcohols (12%-13%) and virtually no wood in their wine will likely be bowled over by Turley wines.   The wines tend to be bright in fruit, 14-15% in alcohol and having a fair bit of cedary wood.

Please drink your Turley Zins young.  Don't rely on the reviews of various critics who advise holding on to them for 5 or 10 years.  Yes, the wines may have enough tannin to go that long, but it's doubtful the fruit will maintain for an extended period.  Our experience with Turley Zins is they're best within a few years of release.
Currently available:  Some "Old Vines" and "Hayne Vineyard" are in stock...stop by...no mail orders...













GRGICH HILLS

Famous Napa Valley vintner Mike Grgich has been on the scene for many decades.  He first gained fame and a fabulous reputation while making wine at Chateau Montelena.  

His Chardonnays were extraordinary and he made some Zinfandels which were amazing.  I wonder how that 1973 Montelena Zin is doing today as it was such an extraordinary wine back in the day!  One feature which was curious:  the wine did not under a secondary, malolactic fermentation.  I think they wanted to see if prohibiting this would allow the wine to retain greater fruit and age better.  But as I did not set any bottles aside, I probably will never know!!

Over the years Grgich Hills Zinfandels were wines purchased from a winery in Sonoma and bottled with the Grgich label.  More recently the wine has come from Napa.  

The 2007 vintage is the current release.  Grgich now grows its own Zinfandel, rather than buying fruit.  The vineyard is in Calistoga and it's, like other Grgich wines, from organically-farmed grapes.  You'll find this to be a full-bodied Zin with typical brambly, jammy berry notes.  A small amount of Petite Sirah may give it a bit of body and spice.  I find it to be a nice Napa red wine, but it's not over-the-top.  We suggest serving it with something such as a tomato sauced pasta with a bit of basil or grilled Italian sausages, marinated pork tenderloins, etc.

Currently in stock:  GRGICH HILLS 2007 Napa ZINFANDEL Special Order Item  $360/case of 12 bottles.










RAFANELLI
One of the sales techniques used by some wineries is to restrict sales of their products in shops so customers have trouble locating their wines.  This bit of psychology can work on a limited basis, making some people want the wine more because it's hard to find.  We've seen, though, sometimes customers simply give up and are no longer loyal to such brands when there are so many roadblocks to making a purchase.


Rafanelli was started by an old winemaker, Americo Rafanelli.  We were one of his first customers.  The next generation of Rafanelli's runs the place today and they prefer to sell the wine exclusively in restaurants.  It is remarkable that this Zin can be found in relatively modest-quality dining establishments (to be charitable) but not a "fine wine" shop.  This is short-sighted and greedy marketing.  Seems to work for them, though.

We no longer have access to these wines.





RIVER RUN
This little winery is run by a self-taught winemaker who's been making good wines for many years.  I have tasted J.P. Pawloski's wines and these tend to be a bit old-fashioned and not big, oaky monsters.  

The winery takes its name from Pawloski's occupation in a previous lifetime, that as a river rafting guide.  River Run is located in Watsonville, south west of Gilroy.  I gather J.P. strives for organically-farmed fruit and we tasted a few nice bottlings from the under-the-radar region of Cienega Valley.  

We tasted a good Zinfandel from the "Wirz" Vineyard, an old patch of vines right on the San Andreas Fault.  While the wine might not be earth-shaking to everyone, it's certainly going to have its fans.  

The vineyard is planted on its own rootstock and the soils are granite and limestone.  Zinfandel is dry-farmed and yields are rather low, accounting for greater intensity in the wine.  What attracts our attention to this wine is it's a bit reminiscent of an Italian Amarone, combined with the particular character that says "Cienega Valley."  You have to taste it to understand the particular "terroir" elements in the wine.  

It's drinkable now and I'm not sure how well it will age.  I suspect drinking it over the next year or two is probably best.
 
Currently in stock:  2006 RIVER RUN Cienega Valley ZINFANDEL $15.99

 
 
 
 


DOWNHILL WINERY
This producer is well below the radar, as winemaker Frank Ashton actually works for a Santa Cruz Mountains winery as his "day job" and he moonlights, producing some rather nice wines as his Downhill gig.

We tasted a really nice blend of Zinfandel and Syrah and it's called "Slippery Slope."  There's a really nice berry and spice element here and we can't say for sure whether it's the Zin or the Syrah contributing the brambly spice character.

It's medium-full on the palate and shows a hint of wood.  We sale-price it at fifteen bucks...a nice bargain in these up-hill economic times.

Currently in stock:  DOWNHILL WINERY 2007 "Slippery Slope"  Zin/Syrah Blend SALE $14.99



JOULLIAN
Monterey County isn't exactly on the map of great Zinfandel-producing wine regions, but there's one little outpost where the grape seems to thrive...in the Carmel Valley.

As Zinfandel drinkers are aware, "Ridge" is a great name for this variety.  So it's ironic the winemaker at Joullian is named "Ridge," though he's not affiliated with "Ridge Vineyards" apart from his opening a bottle of their wine every now and again.

Ridge Watson has been making good wines at Joullian since they started the place.  Though Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc are the main wines, Zinfandel has received special attention from the start.  

Founder Dick Sias took special care in sourcing cuttings to plant.  He began with vines from an Amador County vineyard which was a clone recommended by the famous viticulture specialist, Dr. Frederic Bioletti.  The good doctor was instrumental in grape growing before Prohibition and was the most respected vineyard guy in his day.  Sias also obtained cuttings from Lytton Springs and a nearby site in Cloverdale, as well as from Napa and a clone from Italy's Puglia region where Primitivo thrives.  Now add to this minestrone a few vines of Carignane, Grenache, Aleatico and Alicante Bouchet and you're really playing with fire.

Watson co-ferments all this wacky components and his 2004 is a delightful wine!  We had it in a blind-tasting and the wine was very distinctive and quite good.  I liked the spicy, peppery notes.  The grape is the focus, rather than oak or jam.  It's mildly tannic and perfect partnered with a well-seasoned red meat course.
 
Currently in stock:  2004 JOULLIAN Carmel Valley ZINFANDEL Sold Out

 

 




 



 

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