2015 Heritage Zinfandel

Pepper, raspberry and rose petal on the nose. Pure fruit expression of black cherry and plum on the palate complimented by natural acidity and long elegant finish. JO (12/17)

This wine is the product of the Heritage Vineyard Project, three acres of vines containing nineteen different zinfandel selections from the most renowned California vineyards. This is a collaboration between ZAP (Zinfandel Advocates and Producers) and the University of California at Davis. The vineyard was established to research, preserve and propagate these selections. This zinfandel is soft, elegant and enjoyable now.

Researchers at the University of California at Davis established the Heritage Vineyard out of an interest in old-vine zinfandel. It is three acres consisting of 90 selections from 50 vineyards in 14 counties, located at the University’s Research Station in Oakville, California, in Napa Valley. Each vine is head-trained and spur-pruned in the “goblet” shape, as they would have been in the nineteenth century.

Rainfall: 33.2 inches (just below normal)
Bloom: Mid-May
Weather: Very wet December, followed by the driest January on record (0.05”). Cool, wet late spring helped with rainfall totals, but reduced our crop across all varieties.

Harvest dates: 3 September
Grapes: Average brix 25.7°
Fermentation: Natural primary and secondary for ten days in small fermentors
Barrels: 100% air-dried american oak: (10% new, 30% one- and two-years-old and 60% three- and four years old).
Time in barrel: Twelve months

Hand-harvested; destemmed and crushed; fermented on the native yeasts, followed by full malolactic on the naturally occurring bacteria; minimum effective sulfur for this wine (35 ppm at crush, 59 ppm over the course of aging), pad filtered at bottling. In keeping with our philosophy of minimal intervention, this is the sum of our actions.

Average Rating: 90.3

No. of Tasting Notes: 11

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