Hop Kiln Zinfandel 2001

Tasting Notes: Aromas are ripe, plummy, spice and raspberry. Mouth shows nice structure, balanced acidity and berry flavor. Aged in French and American oak; blended with 15% Cabernet Sauvignon. This is the first bottling for our estate vineyard on the slopes of Mt. Jackson adjoining Turtle Creek. Only 270 cases were produced. About the Winery: Hop Kiln is among the most famous landmarks in the wine country of Sonoma County. The structure is on the registry of National Historic Trust Buildings and has been used as a backdrop for four movies and various television shows. Today, the building is a winery, but at the turn of the century it was a hop kiln, a facility used for the drying and preparing of "hops" used in the production of beer. Dr. Marty Griffin purchased the 240-acre sheep ranch in 1960 with a building that was practically falling apart - the hop kiln. Dr. Griffin, who grew up on a dairy farm in Utah, purchased the property with an eye toward eventual retirement. That, however, was not to be. Shortly after he purchased the Sonoma Hop Kiln ranch, he started to restore the building with the help of two friends. It was in bad need of repair, since the ridgepole connecting the two sections of the barn had collapsed, and later, one of the three towers blew down in a windstorm. In order to finance this project, he had to find a way to make the building pay for itself. Even though he came from a tee-totalling background, he decided to turn it into a winery. There were already grapes on the property which were about 100 years old. When the building was used as a hop kiln, from about 1905 to the early 1940s, the Petite Sirah and Zinfandel which grew on the property were made into wine for the workers. Shortly after Dr. Griffin purchased the ranch, he added more vineyards because the ranch has several micro-climates suitable for grape growing. One section has a cool climate similar to the Rhine valley of Germany, and is ideal for growing Johannisberg Riesling. The other part of the ranch has the same climate as the sunny hillsides of France and Italy, and is well suited to Petite Sirah and Zinfandel. There are now 65 acres planted in vineyards which also include Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Valdiguie. Dr. Griffin first became interested in wine when he lived in Italy for a short while. He studied the winemaking techniques in Tuscanny and Sicily, and became intriguied with the whole process. Later, in 1977, he went to Germany to learn the wine and champagne making process there. By 1974, Hop Kiln had been completely restored, and turned into a winery. Dr. Griffin because its first winemaker with the crush of that fall. "A friend and I made the first wine," he recalls. "There were grapes everywhere, even in the bathtub." With the release of Petite Sirah and Johannisberg Rielsing in 1975, the Hop Kiln Winery was to become an integral part of the Sonoma wine scene. Most of the winemaking technique's Dr. Griffin learned in Europe have been utilized in the winery. There is open top fermentation of the reds, similar to the process used in Italy, and the whites are made in the German style. Dr. Griffin's theory is that wine must taste good at every stage of its development -- when the grapes are picked, when they are crushed, when fermentation begins, and as the wine is aging. In 1984, Dr. Griffin turned over the winemaking duties to Steve Strobl, who had taken courses in enology at U.C. Davis and worked at another winery in the area. Steve is also the vineyard manager. His wife, Jo-Anne, is the manager of the winery. The winery was bonded in 1975, and over the years, Hop Kiln has earned a reputation for producing fruity, full-bodied red wines and well-balanced white wines as attested to by the numerous medals awarded to them in the various wine competitions.