Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The Monte Rosso Vineyard in the Sonoma Valley AVA produces powerful and stately wines. The 2017 Rock Wall Wine Company MR Zinfandel is massive and long. TASTING NOTES: This wine comes right at you with power, power, and power. Enjoy its density of black fruit, oak, and earth with a juicy and rare grilled ribeye. (Tasted: January 30, 2020, San Francisco, CA)
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Wine Enthusiast
A 100% varietal wine from century-old vines atop what is now known as Moon Mountain, this was aged 16 months in French and American oak. Thick in blackberry and raisin cake, its texture is leathery and huge in tannin influence and oak. Give it time to settle into itself; enjoy best 2027 through 2037
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.
Perhaps the most historically significant appellation in Sonoma County, the Sonoma Valley is home to both Buena Vista winery, California's oldest commercial winery, and Gundlach Bundschu winery, California's oldest family-run winery.
It is also one of the more geologically and climactically diverse districts. The valley includes and overlaps four distinct Sonoma County sub-appellations, including Carneros, Moon Mountain District, Sonoma Mountain and Bennett Valley. With mountains, benchlands, plains, abundant sunshine and the cooling effects of the nearby Pacific, this appellation can successfully produce a wide range of grape varieties. Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Gewürztraminer, and most notably, Zinfandel all thrive here. Ancient Zinfandel vines over 100 years old produce small crops of concentrated, spicy fruit, which in turn make some of the Valley's most unique wines. These can also be made as “field blends” (wines made from a mix of grape varieties grown in the same vineyard) along with Petite Sirah, Carignan and Alicante Bouschet.