2018 Mazzoni Home Ranch

Ruby-garnet color. Ripe cherry, pomegranate, black tea, and sweet oak on the nose. Elegant red fruit on entry. Medium to full-bodied with smooth clay minerality and a long finish. JO (7/21)

The Oltranti family has farmed this century old vineyard since 1987. Ridge started making wine from there in 1996, exclusively for the Advanced Tasting Program. The consistent quality over that time made many excellent vintages. In 2018, Ridge signed a farming lease, gaining full control over pruning, yields, and timing of harvest. This excellent growing season produced a wonderfully sensuous wine. It will be at its best in five to seven years.

Giuseppe Mazzoni and his fourteen-year-old brother-in-law, Abramo Trusendi, arrived from Italy in 1898 and went straight to work at the Italian Swiss Colony vineyard cooperative in Asti, California. In 1899, the two managed to acquire hillside acreage nearby overlooking Alexander Valley from the west. By 1910 they had built a winery and begun making wine. Except for the Prohibition years, the Mazzoni family produced wine there until 1978. They were great believers in the contribution each varietal in a field blend could make to the finished wine. Accordingly, their century-old zinfandel is interplanted with carignane, which adds elegance and lively acidity, and petite sirah, which provides spice and depth. The Mazzoni Home Ranch was purchased in 1988 by Niccolo and Flora Oltranti. They have replanted parts of the abandoned hillside, and in some years we will include a small amount from these younger zinfandel vines.

Rainfall: 22 inches (below average)
Bloom: May
Weather: Winter rains were light this year, totaling 22”. Rains in April and May helped the vines get through the summer.

Harvest Dates: 13-23 September
Grapes: Average Brix 24.6
TA: 6.23 g/L
pH: 3.82
Fermentation: Natural primary and secondary; 100% floating cap fermentation; pressed at eight days
Barrels: 100% air-dried American oak barrels (56% four-year-old, 44% six-year-old).
Aging: Twenty months in barrel

All Mazzoni Home Ranch hand-harvested grapes; destemmed and crushed; fermented on the native yeasts, followed by full malolactic on the naturally-occurring bacteria; oak from barrel aging; minimum effective sulfur for this wine (35ppm at crush, 74ppm over the course of aging); pad filtered at bottling. In keeping with our philosophy of minimal intervention, this is the sum of our actions.

OwenBargreen.com: 95 Points “A highly unique and impeccable blend of 56% Zinfandel, 42% Carignane and a touch of Petite Sirah, this shows beautiful balance with ripe red raspberry and red cherry flavors alongside dill and pipe tobacco undertones. Medium to full-bodied with gobs of mouth-watering acidity, this is a sensational bottling that has another fifteen years of life ahead of it.” -Owen Bargreen (August 2021)

Blue Lifestyle: 93 Points “A lovely blend of Zinfandel and Carignane grown in the Cabernet-dominated Alexander Valley, smooth and lush.” -Anthony Dias Blue (September 2021)

Average Rating: 91.2

No. of Tasting Notes: 46

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