During our trip to Santa Rosa in Sonoma County, Karen and I naturally got a hankering for some Zinfandel. So, where did we go? Well, Napa, of course. Wait, really?
Admittedly, Zinfandel may not be the first varietal that comes to mind when one thinks about Napa, but maybe it should be. After all, the popularity of current “fad” grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon is a fairly recent phenomenon and historically vineyards were planted heavily to Zinfandel, often interspersed with other varietals.
Zinfandel Advocates & Producers (ZAP) is the organization for all things Zinfandel. Perhaps best known for the huge annual January event in San Francisco, ZAP does a number of other things as well. According to the ZAP website: “Zinfandel Advocates & Producers (ZAP) is a membership based organization that advances knowledge and appreciation for American Zinfandel and its unique place in our culture and history.”
Last year, ZAP held a series of events in various California wine regions, highlighting the Zinfandel producers and vineyards of those regions. Our timing prevented us from attending the event held in Sonoma County but with Napa being only a hop, skip and a jump over the Mayacamas Mountains [from our morning visit to Stone Edge Farm Estate Vineyards & Winery], we were excited to attend…
Zinfandel: Stories from Napa Valley.
Held in the CIA at Copia, Napa, the event consisted of a tasting seminar followed by a walk-around reception. Moderated by the always entertaining “Sommelier to the Stars” Christopher Sawyer, the speaker panel consisted of Julie Johnson (Tres Sabores), Carol Brown (Brown Estate Vineyards), Tres Goetting (Robert Biale Vineyards) and Tegan Passalacqua (Turley Wine Cellars). And, yes, wine was included with the seminar, as any respectable wine seminar should include wines to taste. (Maybe all seminars regardless of whether about wine or not should include wine, but I digress.) The wines presented were:
Tres Sabores – 2015 Estate Zinfandel, Rutherford
Brown Estate Vineyards – 2016 Estate Zinfandel, Chiles Valley
Robert Biale Vineyards – 2016 Aldo’s Zinfandel, Oak Knoll
Turley Wine Cellars – 2016 Dragon Zinfandel, Howell Mountain
The wineries and wines presented offered great examples of the diversity of Napa Valley Zinfandel showcasing wines from the valley floor as well as from mountainside vineyards.
Each speaker had some interesting tidbits for us. Among other things, I learned that Julie Johnson was one of the founders of Frog’s Leap Winery (along with John Williams and Larry Turley) as well as “Women for Wine Sense” before eventually founding her own Tres Sabores winery in 1999. We’ve known Tres Goetting for some time and loved his comment that “I love Zinfandel because it is a mysterious varietal that never ceases to amaze.” I think we’ve known Tegan Passalacqua even longer and found his remark very intriguing that the Howell Mountain AVA is the most unique AVA that he has worked with. But I think that Coral Brown really touched on how I feel about Zinfandel when she said that their goal is to make the wine shine and the food pairing is just like a backup singer to the wine.
During the seminar, Christopher Sawyer also shared with us that ZAP had just received a grant from the California Department of Food and Agriculture to help to fund the launch of “Zinfandel Stories: Preserving California’s Legendary Vineyards.” This was especially good news to us, as we are staunch advocates of the importance of California’s historic vineyards, so many of which are Zinfandel-based.
After the seminar it was time for the reception, which included many more wineries organized to showcase Zinfandel from Napa Valley’s different growing regions, along with bites from the CIA kitchen. Here’s what was poured…
From Calistoga:
August Briggs Winery
2015 Ancient Vines
2015 Old Vines
Chateau Montelena Winery
2012 Estate
2014 Estate
T-Vine Winery
2014 Frediani Vineyard
From Chiles Valley:
Brown Napa Valley
2016 Estate
Green & Red Vineyard
2015 Chiles Mill Vineyard
2015 Chiles Canyon Vineyard
From Howell Mountain:
Howell Mountain Vineyards
2015 Old Vine
2015 Beatty Ranch Reserve
Lamborn Family Vineyards
2014 The Earthquake Vintage
2014 The Platinum Anniversary
Outpost Wines
2015 Estate
2016 Estate
Summit Lake Vineyards
2014 Summit Lake Vineyard
From Napa Valley:
Ballentine Vineyards
2016 Estate
2015 Reserve
Grgich Hills Estate
2013 Estate
2014 Miljenko’s Old Vines
Hendry
2015 Blocks 7 & 22
2015 Blend
2015 Mike and Molly
Saddleback Cellars
2016 Old Vine
The Lost Chapters (Scotto Cellars)
2013 The Lost Chapters
Turley Wine Cellars
2016 Dragon Vineyard
2016 Hayne Vineyard
2016 Mead Ranch
Sattui Winery
2015 Black Sears
2015 Vittoria’s Vineyard
2015 Quaglia Vineyard “Agent Vine”
From Oak Knoll:
Robert Biale Vineyards
2016 Aldo’s Vineyard
From Oakville:
Oakville Ranch Winery
2015 Field Blend
2014 Field Blend
From Rutherford:
Neal Family Vineyards
2016 Rutherford Dust Vineyard
Tres Sabores
2016 Estate
From St. Helena:
D-cubed Cellars
2014 Korte Ranch
The above list is from the program. (More wines were poured as well.) I listed them all here, not to boost my word count (well maybe a little) but to emphasize that there is really a lot going on in Napa Valley when it comes to Zinfandel. Personally, I’ve always been a fan of wines from Howell Mountain, like Outpost. At the same times there’s no denying the richness of the lower elevation wines like Brown and Green & Red. There’s a lot of diversity and a Zin for every taste, for sure.
I think it is especially important to support Napa’s Zinfandel production as these vineyards are in constant danger of being replaced with more profitable grapes such as Cabernet Sauvignon. So please, go out and get some Napa Zin soon.
Michael Perlis has been pursuing his passion for wine for more than 25 years. He has had the good fortune of having numerous mentors to show him the way, as well as a wonderful wife who encourages him and shares his interest. After a couple of decades of learning about wine, attending events, visiting wineries and vineyards, and tasting as much wine as he possibly could, he had the amazing luck to meet Ev Bushman. Now, as Contributing Editor for Eve’s Wine 101, he does his best to bring as much information as possible about wine to Eve’s Wine 101 faithful readers. Michael is also Vice President of Eve Bushman Consulting (fka Eve’s Wine 101 Consulting) http://evebushmanconsulting.com/ and President of MCP Financial. Michael can be contacted at michaelthezinfan@aol.com or michael@evebushmanconsulting.com.
