Cardinal Zin 2004

The grapes derive almost exclusively from ancient vines in the thermically overachieving Sacramento Delta. The secret of old vines is that they can, in principle, owing to their deep roots, more or less always keep their cool. We permitted the wines to attain a fairly advanced level of ripeness and actually reduced the alcohol by a process called the "spinning cone." The result is a wine that possesses the full and fully mature flavors of ripe grapes but with an intense berry character, powerful tannin, a zin not to be trifled with.