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WINES
To make the wines, we use traditional fine winemaking techniques such
as small lot fermentations, the use of indigenous yeast on the grapes
to conduct the fermentations, little or no fining or filtration, and
small barrel aging. All the wines are made, tasted, and blended by the
production team of Michael, Anne, and Matt.
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2009 Zinfandel Les E'nfant Terrible, McFadden Farm
One of the most unusual wines from California—and with one of the most unusual names—this is a zinfandel that doesn’t fit the classic image of a California wine. It’s a wine that is complex, balanced, and flavorful, and yet has a color and alcohol-level that is more typical of a wine from a cooler region in Europe. From start to finish, it is unusual in character: lower in alcohol, unfined and unfiltered, low in SO2, fermented using native yeasts found on the grapes, organically grown. It’s a wine made in a style that we love—totally drinkable, yet with a complexity that grows stronger over time. With patience, it evolves into a thrilling wine.
| Info & Tasting Notes: | 2009 | | Purchase: | 2009 |
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2009 Zinfandel Les E'nfant Terrible, Heart Arrow Ranch
This is the first year that we’ve made Zinfandel from this beautiful organic- and biodynamically-grown vineyard up in the rolling hills of Mendocino county, about 15 miles north of the town of Ukiah. The vineyard uses no herbicides or pesticides in the vineyard at all, preferring to use cover crops and soil amendments that help sustain and protect the vines. The vineyard management techniques foster a distinctive character—the site-specific terroir of the vineyard—that make the wine unique in aroma, flavor, and structure from our other Zinfandels made at Dashe Cellars.
| Info & Tasting Notes: | 2009 | | Purchase: | 2009 |
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2009 Grenache Les E'nfant Terrible, Dry Creek Valley
This is the first year that we’ve used our “Les Enfants Terribles” label series for our lovely, complex Grenache grown in a single rocky vineyard in the Dry Creek Valley. This flat, rugged vineyard is planted in an old dry riverbed near the town of Healdsburg, in Sonoma County, where the maritime fog that flows down the valley at night cools down the vines until the late morning, keeping the grapes cool and the resulting wines extremely luscious and balanced between fruit and acidity.
| Info & Tasting Notes: | 2009 | | Purchase: | 2009 |
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2009 Vin Gris, Dry Creek Valley
We admit it. We love Vin Gris. Maybe it’s the wonderful strawberry-red color, maybe it’s the refreshing fruit flavors, and maybe it’s the crisp acidity. It’s the kind of wine that you can just pop open and enjoy for the simple beauty of the flavors, as an aperitif, or with a light meal.
| Info & Tasting Notes: | 2009 |
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2008 Zinfandel Dry Creek Valley
This is a classic example of a Dry Creek Zinfandel: elegant, balanced, and layered with loads of fruit flavors and a velvety, voluptuous texture. The trademark characteristics of zinfandel from this area are in abundance—black raspberry and cassis fruit, mineral and earth, and clove and black pepper spice—and we expect this wine to develop and improve nicely over the next five or so years
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2008 Dry Riesling McFadden Farm
This is the third year we’ve made our Dry Riesling from this outstanding organic vineyard high up in the hills of Mendocino County. This year’s Riesling is in the style of our first vintage, in that the wine is fermented completely dry, with a beautiful mineral and stone character that balances the refined Riesling fruit. This wine is made in the style of the dry white wines from the Alsace region of France, an area that produces some of our favorite European white wines.
| Info & Tasting Notes: | 2008 | | Purchase: | 2008 |
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2007 Zinfandel Louvau Vineyard Old Vine
We can never get enough of these remarkable old vine zinfandel grapes from the property of John Louvau in Dry Creek Valley. These old, gnarled, thick vines grow straight out of the rocky soil of the ancient riverbed on the “bench” of upper Dry Creek Valley, and they produce tiny quantities of jet-black, concentrated grapes.
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2007 Zinfandel Florence Vineyard
This young vineyard planted in an extremely rocky dry riverbed in the north of the Dry Creek Valley is rapidly becoming a favorite vineyard site for Dashe Cellars. The 2007 version of this zinfandel shows all of the intense, complex aromatics of the previous vintage, as well as the depth of flavor and mouthfeel that characterize the wines of 2007.
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2007 Zinfandel Todd Brothers Ranch Old Vine
The 2007 vintage was one of the best vintages in recent memory, and for the Todd Brothers Vineyard in Geyserville—which is one of our favorite vineyards—it was also a great vintage. The thick, gnarled zinfandel vines of this ranch consistently produce one of most intense, dark, and distinctive wines. This year’s Todd Brothers Zinfandel is balanced, sensuous wine that is both packed with flavors and possessing a lovely texture and mouthfeel.
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2007 Petite Sirah Todd Brothers Ranch
This is the first year Dashe Cellars has made a Petite Sirah from the Todd Brothers Ranch vineyard, and it is one of the darkest, most intense, and luscious wines we’ve ever made. Black-purple in color, it is certainly one of the most distinctive wines we’ve ever made!
| Info & Tasting Notes: | 2007 |
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2007 Zinfandel Late Harvest
For most of this decade we’ve made Late Harvest Zinfandels from the great Lily Hill vineyard at Bella Winery (where Mike is the consulting winemaker). The shallow, rocky soils on the steep hills of this vineyard make the vines struggle, which in turn help the vines create very concentrated, complex grapes. One of the reasons that we love this vineyard for Late Harvest zinfandel is the wonderful acidity of the grapes. Even when we wait an extra four weeks or so to harvest the grapes (the average time that we need to leave the grapes to have them turn into Late Harvest) the grapes maintain their acidity. The resulting wine is always focused and clear--it’s never cloying, and always finishes with a crisp, clean, sweet note.
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2006 Zinfandel Louvau Vineyard Old Vines
These 70-year-old vines are some of the best vines in the Sonoma wine country. They were discovered by John Louvau on his newly-bought property in 1989, hidden beneath a field of weeds and blackberry vines that had grown over the old grapevines. John nursed the vines back to health and now they produce some of the best grapes on the entire property.
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