Variety: 100% Zinfandel
Location: North Coast, CA
Alcohol: 12.5%
Production: 250 cases

Inspired by the California claret-style of the 1970s/80s Zinfandel. Spicy notes of pink peppercorns, roses and sour plum remind you that this is Zinfandel after all, but the baking spice and salty, thirst-inducing freshness could well transport you someplace else. Drink it anywhere, with anyone and anything, and drink tons of it.

Picked in early September. Whole-cluster carbonic fermentation for roughly one week, followed by a gentle treading to break up the fruit and allow a cap to form on top of the juice. After another week of fermentation with a once-daily treading, two thirds of the wine was pressed to neutral oak barrels, and one third to tank to rest for seven months before bottling in late March 2023. Minimally protective sulfur was added approximately two months before bottling.

The vineyard is tucked in the folded eastern foothills of the Vaca Mountains, not far from a billboard telling passing motorists that they’ve reached “Suisun Valley – Napa’s Backside.” It’s a shirt jaunt to the I-80 and growing sprawl of Fairfield, but here it feels like old timey California, all country ranches and rolling pastures dotted with coastal oak trees. The Delta isn’t far away, and you can trace the runoff through the north-south running valleys, an easy way to picture the eroded volcanic matter, clay and bits of serpentine in the local soils.