This wine was released on December 1st, 1998 and already people are talking about it. WineToday.com recently rated it "4 STARS" with high recommendations and "Best Buy" status. We wholeheartedly agree; it's a great wine!
The grapes for this wine came, for the most part, from a 25 year old block of vines near Yountville in the Napa Valley. 1997 was a terrific year for grapes and that was especially true for Zinfandel. The quality was great to start with and we waited to harvest until the flavors were truly ripe.
The clusters were only partially destemmed so as to accentuate the bramble and black pepper notes that the stems can add to this variety. It was fermented warm and the wine was left on the grape skins for almost three weeks. This leads to even greater extraction of flavors.
The wine was put into a mixture of once used and twice used American Oak barrels and aged for 8 months. The finished wine is 14.9% alcohol but the fruit characters are so intense that the wine is very nicely balanced at this stage and should be for many years to come. The fruit flavors just keep coming but mostly apparent are red fruit characters like blackberry, plum, black cherry just to name few. These intense flavors are also in abundance in the palate of the wine where is has a smoothness and a richness you have got to experience for yourself. Just delicious! The only problem is we didn't make very much of it (only 110 cases!). We will probably only sell it directly from the winery. Some of our diehard Zinfandel fans may end up fighting for the last boxes!
I've always enjoyed Zinfandel with grilled foods and this wine would also do well with a wide range of cheeses at the end of a meal.