2017 Heritage Zinfandel

Briary red fruit aromas with a hint of citrus blossom. Medium-bodied on the palate, soft in texture, flavors of cherry and fig balanced by ample acidity. JO (6/20)

This wine is made from the Zinfandel Heritage Vineyard. The three acres of vines contain nineteen different zinfandel selections from historic California vineyards. The project is a collaboration of ZAP (Zinfandel Advocates and Producers) and the University of California at Davis’ Oakville field station. The vineyard was established to research, preserve and propagate these selections. This year’s wine is ripe, full-bodied and can be enjoyed over the next five years.

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 nineteen 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: 60+ inches (above average)
Bloom: May
Weather: A wet December and January helped ease the drought which emphatically ended in March. Cool weather in April reduced our crop a bit. Several heat spikes close to harvest accelerated ripening.

Harvest Dates: 2 September
Grapes: Average Brix 25.5˚
TA: 5.85 g/L
pH: 3.65
Fermentation: Natural primary for seven days in small fermentors
Barrels: 100% air-dried American oak barrels (15% new, 15% one year-old, 25% two years-old, 25% three years-old, and 20% four years-old).
Aging: Fourteen months in barrel

Hand-harvested; destemmed and crushed; fermented on the native yeasts, followed by full malolactic on the naturally occurring bacteria; 0.8% water addition; minimum effective sulfur for this wine (35 ppm at crush, 85 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

No. of Tasting Notes: 23

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