Paul Dolan Vineyards Zinfandel 2008
Winemaker Notes
This wine is the unique expression of a carefully nurtured piece of land, made manifest in each bottle. We do without conventional pesticides and synthetic fertilizers, treating the soil as a living, life-giving system. Our winegrowing practices create special wines, while sustaining our environment, the place where we live, and the people who live here.
Always Certified Organically Grown – At Paul Dolan vineyards all of our wines are certified organically grown by California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF), a process that takes a minimum of three years. We believe that soil is a living, life giving system that is sensitive to chemicals and over cultivation. In organic farming, we do not use herbicides such as glyphosate or other synthetic pesticides and chemical fertilizers.
All of our wines are vegan; we do not use any animal based fining, a finishing process many wines go through. Like many of the best wines in the world we do add sulfites, never more than 100ppm, less than 1/3 the limit of conventional non-organically grown wines.
Paul Dolan Vineyards wines are the unique expressions of carefully nurtured vineyards in northern California’s Mendocino County. Our winegrowing practices create small lots of elegant wines, while sustaining our environment, the place where we live, and the people who live here.
California is a winemaking colossus; by itself it is the fourth largest producer in the world. Red wine accounts for 56% of the total by volume, and red grapes 63% of total acres planted. In addition, a number of California red wines are heralded as being among the most prestigious and sought-after wines in the world.
While the state’s incredibly diverse geography, soils and microclimates allow for a wide array of styles, the key factor unifying California red wine is the abundance of sunshine and a long, consistent growing season. This leads to well-developed fruit marked both by impressive ripeness and balancing acidity.
The state’s most famous red wine region, of course, is Napa Valley, where Cabernet Sauvignon reigns as king. But California boasts a wealth of other impressive appellations. The much larger and climatically varied Sonoma County also produces world class California Cabernet, along with wonderful examples of California Pinot Noir and Zinfandel.
Fine versions of Cabernet and Zinfandel hail from Paso Robles as well, which is also gaining fame with Rhone varietals like Syrah and Grenache. As for Pinot Noir, terrific examples can be found from AVA’s such as Anderson Valley, Carneros, Santa Lucia Highlands and Sta. Rita Hills. Wineries in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties are making wonderful Syrahs, and the Sierra Foothill appellations are proving to be an experimental hotbed, with Italian and Spanish varietals employed to great effect.
This of course is a mere sketch. The subject of California red wine is as deep and broad as an ocean, and absolutely a joy to explore!