Winemaker Notes
Pretty initial aromas of soft cocoa, cassis, spice and violet. Mouthwatering, balanced sour cherry, berry and currant and persistent acid, balanced by mild, fine-grained tannins. With slightly higher acid and lower tannins than Block 28, 7&22 is a natural partner for Italian plates like pasta Bolognese or goat cheese and eggplant lasagna, as well as anything barbecued or grilled.
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
The scent of this wine is worth the price of admission, a combination of sage, sun and wet rock, of forest pines and dark red fruit. It reminded Wolfgang Weber, one of our panelists, of hiking in the north coast, “in the morning, when the sun burns off the dew and picks up the scents of plant resins.” The fragrance may ground the wine in the Napa Valley hills, but the texture is pure benchland, about as silky as a wine can be. The Hendry family farms these blocks of clone 2 zinfandel at the edge of the hills west of the city of Napa, one block planted in 1975, the other in 1995. Those vines hit in 2011 with a deliciously plump zinfandel, the kind of dynamic red wine that proves Napa Valley’s greatness.
Undoubtedly proving its merit over and over, Napa Valley is a now a leading force in the world of prestigious red wine regions. Though Cabernet Sauvignon dominates Napa Valley, other red varieties certainly thrive here. Important but often overlooked include Merlot and other Bordeaux varieties well-regarded on their own as well as for their blending capacities. Very old vine Zinfandel represents an important historical stronghold for the region and Pinot noir is produced in the cooler southern parts, close to the San Pablo Bay.
Perfectly situated running north to south, the valley acts as a corridor, pulling cool, moist air up from the San Pablo Bay in the evenings during the hot days of the growing season, which leads to even and slow grape ripening. Furthermore the valley claims over 100 soil variations including layers of volcanic, gravel, sand and silt—a combination excellent for world-class red wine production.