Nose
Introducing itself with lavishly fragrant aromas of ripe black cherry, black raspberry, red plum, blackberry and dark chocolate, our 2012 Lake County Zinfandel
Palate
rich and concentrated on the palate with dense, juicy, blackberry, dark cherry and plum flavors. Its long, succulent finish intrigues with savory spice, mineral and chocolate tones,
Growing Conditions
After several cool, rainy growing seasons, the 2012 vintage was near picture-perfect, with consistently mild summer weather free of rain or significant heat waves. While Lake County can be hot during the summer months, 2012 brought more moderate temperatures, low relative humidity and significant late afternoon and evening cooling, conditions ideal for producing grapes with an optimum balance of ripe, concentrated flavors and lively acidity.
Winemaking
We night-harvest our Lake County zinfandel grapes to preserve their freshness, fruit purity and varietal expressiveness, then ferment and age each of our three clonal selections separately to maximize their distinctive personalities and ensure an extra dimension of complexity. After warm fermentations in both small and large stainless steel tanks to fully extract color, flavor and tannins, the wines remain on their skins for several more weeks to further enhance color and flavor extraction while softening tannins. In 2012, we aged the component wines for seven months in French oak barrels, 41% new, prior to blending. The blended wine then aged another eight months in barrel prior to bottling in December, 2013.
Aging
15 months in French oak barrels, 41% new
Food Pairing
a fine match for grilled beef, lamb and chicken, as well as pizza and red-sauce pastas.
