All the grapes for this wine come from the northern section of the Sierra Foothills AVA. And it does show that typical Sierra Foothills style: Ripe and full, but without being heavy, dark or dense. It's an interesting tasting, to sample a couple of the best Zins from each of three different Zin zones. Say, Amador vs Dry Creek vs western Paso Robles. You'll quickly understand what I mean by the "Sierra Foothills" style. It's something I quite like and have enjoyed for many years.
This Zinfandel is very ripe, with juicy extracted aromas of raspberry, fruit candy (a bit of that "Jolly Rancher" essence), and dusty white pepper. It's a little hot in the mouth, rich and slightly jammy, with dark berry, vanilla spice, and hints of chocolate and coffee. And it's finished with a screwcap, which makes me very happy. No risk of cork taint.
The winery reports that they used a special "submerged cap" fermentation tank (which holds the color and flavor imparting skins beneath the fermenting wine surface, instead of relying on punch-downs and pump-overs to maintain skin contact). It was aged in barrel (mostly French oak) for 14 months.
The label reports 14.7% alcohol.
Cool fact about the winemaker: Chaim Gur-Arieh was an inventor and food product developer before becoming a winemaker. He worked for Quaker Oats company where he helped develop the breakfast Cereal Cap’n Crunch.
Full retail is about $18.00. Several thousand cases in production, which means you ought to be able to find a bottle to try, if you look around.
Comments