Winemaker Notes
This is the sixteenth vintage of the estate-bottled Zinfandel. The wine tastes full,
rich, smooth, and gutsy. It shows beautiful brambly blackberry fruit, big cedar, spice box aromas and flavors. It has a smooth creamy finish from aging in François Frères and Taransaud barrels. This wine will age nicely for at least twenty years past the vintage on the label.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Expressive and spirited, with bright raspberry and blackberry flavors, laced with dusty mocha, licorice and smoked pepper notes that build richness toward refined tannins.
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Wine Enthusiast
This big and dry wine is a nice change of pace. The wine looks dark, smells deep and tastes full bodied and firm textured. It doesn't have the overripe or semisweet character of many Zins, but instead is rather tannic and even mildly astringent like strong tea, and has lip smacking cranberry and raspberry flavors.
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.
