2020 Buchignani Zinfandel

Aromas of raspberry, sage, anise and toasty oak. Medium-bodied palate with notes of cherry, pomegranate, forest floor and wet stone. Balanced acidity with firm tannins and a lingering finish. SR (12/24)

After full yields in 2019, the vines set a short crop in 2020. This concentrated flavors and expedited ripening for a mid-August pick. Unlike most vintages where we may include extra carignane from an adjoining block to soften tannins, the abundant fruit and sensuous texture of the 2020 precluded this need. Enjoyable as a young wine, this appealing zinfandel will develop over seven years. JO (4/22)

This wine comes from a small planting of old-vine zinfandel on the Buchignani Ranch on Dutcher Creek Road in the hills north of Dry Creek Valley (carignane planted on the rest of the ranch provides a separate ATP selection). The zinfandel block, approximately five acres in size, was planted in the 1940s and ’50s on a rocky knoll overlooking the family home.

Rainfall: 25 inches (below average)
Bloom: Late May
Weather: Rains in March and April helped the vines get through the summer. We were just starting harvest when the heat wave hit in August.

Harvest Dates: 20 – 21 August
Grapes: Average Brix 23.4˚
TA: 6.77 g/L
pH: 3.74
Fermentation: Grapes fermented on the naturally-occurring yeasts. Full malolactic carried out without inoculation.
Barrels: 100% air-dried American oak barrels (20% new, 20% one year old, 20% two years old, and 40% four to five years old).
Aging: Seventeen months in barrel

Hand-harvested; sustainably farmed, estate-grown 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, 62 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.