Winemaker Notes
Brilliant medium ruby-red but don’t let the lighter color fool you. This wine is packin’! Soaring aromas of macerated cherries and red currants are highlighted by a slight resinous smell that brings to mind the surrounding forest of redwood, fir, buckeye, and bay laurel. Based on the nose alone, one would expect a bruiser on the palate. But not so! Instead, a beautiful, almost lithe wine with gorgeous mouthfeel and intense autumnal red fruit flavors. Drink from release through 2027.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
From the Mendocino region and basically all Zinfandel (there's one percent Schiava Grossa), the 2018 Zinfandel Dupratt Vineyard gives up loads of spice and cedar notes as well as beautiful wild strawberry and blueberry fruits, medium to full-bodied richness, a juicy, elegant texture, and a great finish. It's another stunning 2018 Zinfandel that does everything right, showing the fresher, more elegant, pure style of the vintage to a T.
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Wine Spectator
A spry and zesty red, with expressive black raspberry aromas that show whiffs of sage and laurel, followed by spicy notes on the lively finish. Drink now through 2029.
Unapologetically bold, spice-driven and jammy, Zinfandel has secured its title as the darling of California vintners by adapting well to the state's diverse microclimates and landscapes. Born in Croatia, it later made its way to southern Italy where it was named Primitivo. Fortunately, the imperial nursery of Vienna catalogued specimens of the vine, and it later made its way to New England in 1829. Parading the true American spirit, Zinfandel found a new home in California during the Gold Rush of 1849. Somm Secret—California's ancient vines of Zinfandel are those that survived the neglect of Prohibition; today these vines produce the most concentrated, ethereal and complex examples.
Essentially a northern extension of the Sonoma Coast AVA but part of Mendocino County, Mendocino Ridge is one of the rare appellations defined by elevation only. The Mendocino Ridge AVA is reserved only for vineyards at or above 1,200 feet between the Anderson Valley and Pacific Ocean.