Winemaker Notes
They started working with Old Hill in 2018, and every vintage has surpassed my lofty aspirations for the site and has been one of the best wines in the cellar. What I think I love most is how much the “Old Hill” character marries with the vintage character. The 2018 is fresh and perfumed and will be long-lived, just like the best wines of the vintage. The 2019 shows the beautiful fruit weight and lushness of the vintage. The 2020 shows exotic spice and structure and remarkable elegance given the warm year. The 2021, a classic “drought” year, shows the massive density and structure that should make it a monumental wine for many years. In this same fashion, the 2022 shows both the amplitude and weight of fruit but also the great line and suavity that comes from most of the growing season being so temperate before the heat in early September. From a field-blend of 30+ varieties planted in the 1880s, this is once again one of the best wines of the vintage.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
This is what old-vine Zin is all about. Beautifully structured, distinctive and full of personality, this offers up briar patch, blackberry and raspberry flavors laced with clove, smoked pepper and bitter chocolate tones while building tension and richness toward zesty tannins. Zinfandel, Grenache, Mataro, Syrah, Petit Sirah and Alicante.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Coming from vines planted in the 1880s and pouring deep purple color, the 2022 Old Hill Ranch Heritage takes on a rich, darker profile with notes of dark chocolate thin mints, boysenberry, fresh herbs, and forest earth. Leaning toward full-bodied, it expands through the palate and has broader shoulders, with fantastic balance and polish. It offers wonderful length, ripe tannins, and a slowly tapered finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Old Hill Ranch Vineyard was planted in 1980 to 16 different varieties, including Zinfandel, Grenache, Mourvèdre, Syrah and Alicante Bouschet. It was utilized by Joel Peterson at Ravenswood in the 1980s and is now bottled as a single vineyard by his son and Bedrock owner and winemaker Morgan Twain-Peterson, MW. The 2022 Old Hill Ranch Heritage has bright scents of raspberry, strawberry and powdered sugar. The medium-bodied palate offers a concentrated core of candied berry fruit. It’s structured by clay-textured tannins and mouthwatering acidity and has a long, perfumed finish. It’s easy to drink and will pair well with spicy food.
The winery’s objectives are:
To channel the fruit of ancient vines into powerful, elegant, and distinctly Californian wines.
To spread the gospel of Syrah in California by sourcing fruit from great terroirs throughout the North Coast.
To proclaim the greatness of Sonoma Valley Cabernet Sauvignon by sparing no expense on wines of uniqueness and personality.
To reclaim rose’ from the excesses of saignee and focus on precision, delicacy, aromatics, and food friendliness.
To make fascinating and quixotic white wines from unique sites and interesting varietals.
To dream big but keep production low!
With hundreds of red grape varieties to choose from, winemakers have the freedom to create a virtually endless assortment of blended red wines. In many European regions, strict laws are in place determining the set of varieties that may be used, but in the New World, experimentation is permitted and encouraged resulting in a wide variety of red wine styles. Blending can be utilized to enhance balance or create complexity, lending different layers of flavors and aromas. For example, a red wine blend variety that creates a fruity and full-bodied wine would do well combined with one that is naturally high in acidity and tannins. Sometimes small amounts of a particular variety are added to boost color or aromatics. Blending can take place before or after fermentation, with the latter, more popular option giving more control to the winemaker over the final qualities of the wine.
How to Serve Red Wine
A common piece of advice is to serve red wine at “room temperature,” but this suggestion is imprecise. After all, room temperature in January is likely to be quite different than in August, even considering the possible effect of central heating and air conditioning systems. The proper temperature to aim for is 55° F to 60° F for lighter-bodied reds and 60° F to 65° F for fuller-bodied wines.
How Long Does Red Wine Last?
Once opened and re-corked, a bottle stored in a cool, dark environment (like your fridge) will stay fresh and nicely drinkable for a day or two. There are products available that can extend that period by a couple of days. As for unopened bottles, optimal storage means keeping them on their sides in a moderately humid environment at about 57° F. Red wines stored in this manner will stay good – and possibly improve – for anywhere from one year to multiple decades. Assessing how long to hold on to a bottle is a complicated science. If you are planning long-term storage of your reds, seek the advice of a wine professional.
Perhaps the most historically significant appellation in Sonoma County, the Sonoma Valley is home to both Buena Vista winery, California's oldest commercial winery, and Gundlach Bundschu winery, California's oldest family-run winery.
It is also one of the more geologically and climactically diverse districts. The valley includes and overlaps four distinct Sonoma County sub-appellations, including Carneros, Moon Mountain District, Sonoma Mountain and Bennett Valley. With mountains, benchlands, plains, abundant sunshine and the cooling effects of the nearby Pacific, this appellation can successfully produce a wide range of grape varieties. Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Gewürztraminer, and most notably, Zinfandel all thrive here. Ancient Zinfandel vines over 100 years old produce small crops of concentrated, spicy fruit, which in turn make some of the Valley's most unique wines. These can also be made as “field blends” (wines made from a mix of grape varieties grown in the same vineyard) along with Petite Sirah, Carignan and Alicante Bouschet.