The 2014 Teldeschi Zinfandel has powerful aromas of black cherries, coffee, caramel, and vanilla as well as other sweet dark fruit scents, combine to create the classic character of a great Dry Creek Benchland Zinfandel. Rich flavors of sweet cherry liqueur, vanilla, and smoke lead to a ripe, dense, long, and bright fruit finish. Lorenzo Teldeschi returned from America to his family's Tuscan village of Casabasciana to procure a wife, only to enlist in the Italian army when World War I broke out. When Lorenzo went missing in action, his wife Eugenia and the townspeople grew resigned to the inevitable and staged a memorial. Imagine the scene in Casabasciana when, a few days after his "funeral," Lorenzo Teldeschi came walking into town. A year later, he and his wife had their second son, Franco. The family eventually returned to California and Franco (who began calling himself Frank in America) planted his own vineyard and sold the grapes to Italian home winemakers in San Francisco. Sometime later, during the 1970s, a young winemaker came to their house in Dry Creek Valley and asked if he could buy grapes for his new winery, Ravenswood. He and Frank sat down under a tree and Frank opened a bottle of his homemade wine. Four hours later, Joel Peterson could hardly walk, but he had a deal for a few tons of Zinfandel. Today, Ravenswood is lucky enough to get the grapes from the entire vineyard.

Blend: 75.7% Zinfandel, 12% 19.4% Petite Sirah, 14.9% Carignane