Wine & Spirits - Summer 2023 - 79

US Zinfandel and Mixed Blacks
SONOmA COuNTY
94 | Ridge
$40
2020 Alexander Valley Boatman Zinfandel
^ This wine is from an early vintage, starting
at the end of August, when Tim Boatman
harvested his zinfandel well before the start
of the Glass fire in late September. The vines
he planted in the 1970s, on steep rocky hills
between the Alexander and Dry Creek valleys,
produced a complex, elegant wine with
old-vine savor (if 50 years begins to count
as old-vine zin). It's robust and cool, with
smoky prune-plum flavors, scents of green
herb stems, coffee and chocolate, as if built
for a spicy mole. Yes, there's some smokiness
to it, and it is a 2020, but the fruit is so
alive and tangible, so firm and gracious that
the smoke is just an accent. Completely delicious.
-J.G. (1,300 cases) §
93 | Radio-Coteau
$70
2019 Sonoma Coast Lemorel Zinfandel ^ I
could drink a lot of this wine, though there
isn't much of it. Fortunately, the fashion for
pinot noir on the far coast has not obliterated
all the old-vine zin. Eric Sussman launched
Radio-Coteau with a 2002 Zinfandel from
this vineyard when it was owned by Robert
von Weidlich, the successor to the Morelli
family, who planted the site in the late 1800s
and this parcel in 1946. Sussman now farms
those vines under biodynamics, producing a
savory red with notes of soy, cured meats and
mushrooms, all racing with an undercurrent
of strawberry and red-plum flavor. The linear
acidity makes it a tight coastal red, a zin for
lovers of contemporary far-coast pinot noir,
with a bit of added spice. -J.G. (110 cases) §
93 | Trione
$37
2017 Sonoma Coast Flatridge Ranch Zinfandel
(BEST BUY) ^ This grows at a 10-acre
vineyard, 10 miles from the coast, planted in
2008 with the St.Peters Church clone of zinfandel.
It's a complex wine, its structure and
oak integrated enough that you could drink
it tonight, even as the flavors keep developing
with air, bringing cardamom and curry
spice to the fleshy plum fruit, while mineralinflected
tannins keep it supple and dynamic.
-J.G. (791 cases) §
92 | St. Francis
$65
2019 Sonoma County Eletto Heritage
Vines Zinfandel ^ Katie Madigan makes this
wine from six parcels of centenarian vines:
mostly zin, coplanted with some alicante,
grand noir, carignane, petite sirah, mourvedre,
as well as a few vines with white grapes).
Those heritage selections delivering the
character and concentration that old vines
in the right place can give. " The tannins are
wrapped in fruit, " said Eleven Madison Park's
Alex Mares, pointing to the integration of the
plum-prune, juicy tart raspberry and lasting
mineral savor. There's mouthwatering coolness
to the wine, with herbal edges around
the plump fruit as it coasts to the end. -J.G.
(510 cases) §
91 | Dry Creek Vineyard $46
2019 Russian River Valley Farmhouse
Vineyard Zinfandel ^ The cool blue-fruit richness
of Russian River zinfandel is this wine's
strongest asset. That lovely fruit is chained
with reduction for now, somber cuffs to its
scents of rose-hip tea and touches of prunes.
Built to cellar. -J.G. (408 cases) §
91 | Ridge
92 | Bella
$40
$68
2019 Rockpile Rocks Edge Zinfandel ^
" Rockpile Rocks Edge " aptly describes the
mineral wash of flavor over the fruit in this
wine. Its grapes grow at five vineyards, some
with thin, rocky soils, some on steep slopes
of red volcanic soil. That mix of sites delivers
a zin of depth and intensity, and the smokiness
of rocks hitting rocks. That savor gives
shades of mushrooms and wild herbs to the
dark plum fruit. -J.G. (300 cases) §
2018 Alexander Valley Buchignani Ranch
Zinfandel ^ This grows on a steep, rocky slope
in the western hills of Alexander Valley, where
Stan Buchignani's family planted zinfandel
in the 1940s and '50s (he also grows old-vine
carignane, which accounts for 20 percent of
this blend). The wine has the warm spice of
fennel seeds, over light flavors of wild strawberries
and herbs. Oak tannins give the finish
a dark shade, while the fruit feels fully
mature. -J.G. (1,300 cases) §
90 | DeLoach
$55
2019 Russian River Valley Maffei Vineyard
Olivet Bench Zinfandel ^ Black and ripe, this
wine's candied-cherry flavors have a Portlike
sweetness, while there's enough acidity
to keep it juicy. " Bottom notes give it depth
and resonance, " said James Conley of Keen's
Steakhouse, while others pointed to the walnut
scents of oak, and highlights of thyme
and rosemary. -J.G. §
90 | St. Francis
$54
2020 Sonoma County Tres Viejos Zinfandel
^ This is a blend of parcels from three
areas of Sonoma County-the Russian River,
Sonoma and Dry Creek valleys-all of the
vines aged 60 years or older. The wine is
ripe and clean, its tangy red fruit cool against
the heat of the alcohol, then it lasts on tannins
suffused with herbal notes of sage and
thyme. -J.G. (665 cases) §
Summ ER 2023
WINE & SPIR IT S
79
https://www.bellawinery.com/product/2019-Rock-s-Edge-Zinfandel https://www.stfranciswinery.com/collection/wines https://www.stfranciswinery.com/collection/wines
Wine & Spirits - Summer 2023

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