2016 Wild Cattle Creek Zinfandel

Opaque, inky in color, nose of cassis, plum and mint. Full bodied on the palate with balanced acidity, seamless tannins and notes of fig on the finish. JO (9/19)

Wild Cattle Creek vineyard is located in northern Sonoma County near the ghost town of Las Lomas. The town owes its name to the area’s undulating hills. The top of the vineyard provides a captivating view of the area. This classic field blend of zinfandel, petite sirah and carignane yields a wine that is rich, earthy and elegant. Enjoyable now it will improve with a further five to six years of cellar age.

In 1998, John Olney purchased a hillside ranch halfway between the town of Healdsburg and the Pacific Ocean. In 1999, he planted six acres to zinfandel with about 5% petite sirah and cariganane interplants. In 2000, an acre of pure carignane was added. The wine is named after Wild Cattle Creek which runs through the valley below and forms the property border. The creek is the only one in the area that runs year-around. Since the late 1800s, each summer, the local cattle descend from the dry hills to drink from the creek.

Rainfall: 38 inches (below normal)
Bloom: Mid-May
Weather: A wet December and January helped ease the drought which emphatically ended in March. Fine weather in May rebounded our crop to near normal levels.

Harvest Dates: 2 & 7 September
Grapes: Average Brix 24.5˚
Fermentation: Natural primary and natural secondary (malolactic) fermentations; once daily pump-overs; pressed at ten days.
Barrels: 100% air-dried american oak barrels (100% two years-old).
Aging: Twelve months in barrel

Hand-harvested; sustainably farmed, destemmed and crushed; fermented on the native yeasts, followed by a full malolactic on the naturally occurring bacteria; oak from barrel aging; minimum effective sulfur for this wine (35 ppm at crush, 88 ppm during aging); pad filtered at bottling. In keeping with our philosophy of minimal intervention, this is the sum of our actions.

Average Rating: 90.1

No. of Tasting Notes: 7

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