2023 East Bench Zinfandel

Strawberry, clove and vanilla notes on the nose. Raspberry, sage, chocolate and black olive flavors give way to mouth-coating tannins with bright acidity and a long finish. Classic Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel. (SR 12/24)

In 1999, we planted this twenty-acre parcel to zinfandel. As the vineyard has matured, depth and complexity of flavor have increased. After plentiful winter rain, the vines set a full crop. Each parcel was crushed and fermented separately. In blind tasting, seven of the blocks were selected for this wine. A perfect example of both varietal and site, this classic zinfandel will be at its best over the next seven years. SR (11/24)

Ridge has made the East Bench as a single vineyard since 2006, one of the few Ridge zinfandels that is 100% zinfandel. The vineyard sits high atop the bench land that overlooks Dry Creek Valley from the east.

Rainfall: 64 inches (above average)
Bloom: End of June
Weather: Late and prolonged harvest due to consistently cool weather throughout the growing season.

Harvest Dates: 29 September – 7 October
Grapes: Average Brix 23.9˚
TA: 6.1 g/L
pH: 3.64
Fermentation: Natural primary and natural secondary (malolactic) fermentations.
Barrels: 100% air-dried American oak barrels (14% new, 10% one year old, 10% two years old, and 66% five-plus years old).
Aging: Fourteen months in barrel

Hand-harvested; estate-grown organic grapes; destemmed and crushed; fermented on the indigenous yeast, followed by a full malolactic on the naturally occurring bacteria; oak from barrel aging; minimum effective sulfur for this wine (35 ppm at crush, 112 ppm during aging); pad filtered at bottling. In keeping with our philosophy of minimal intervention, this is the sum of our actions.

See all food pairing recipes we have created specifically for this wine.