2008 Zinfandel Florence Vineyard, Dry Creek Valley

We’ve purchased the fruit from the vines planted on this wonderfully rocky, ancient riverbed site since the vines first produced fruit in the 2005 vintage, and there’s no question in this short period of time that it has become one of our favorite vineyards in all of the Dry Creek Valley. The 2008 Florence Vineyard zinfandel is classic wine from this vintage: fruit-forward, lush, bursting with flavor, and beautifully balanced.

History
The vineyard—owned by Jack Florence of Rockpile Ranch fame—was planted from cuttings of the St. Peters Church clone, taken from the original Rockpile Ranch vines.  This clone of zinfandel has very tiny, intensely flavored berries, and the large proportion of skins to juice from these tiny berries make for an exceptionally rich, complex wine. The wine from the 2008 vintage was no exception, showing its typically perfumed aroma of violets and lavender, and rich flavors of black raspberry, chocolate, and clove spice.

Production
We used our special custom-made gridded tanks to ferment the wines. These tanks, outfitted with stainless-steel grids that can be raised or lowered on top of the crushed grapes, allow us to submerge the cap of grape skins beneath the surface of the fermenting wine. We extract color, body, and complexity from the grapes without extracting too much of the drying tannins found in the seeds. The result are intense and complex wines that feel velvety and round on the tongue rather than harsh or tannic.

As is our tradition, we conducted the fermentation using only the natural yeast population on the grapes.  During fermentation the temperature was allowed to get up to 88º F, to aid in the extraction of color and flavor. At dryness, the wine was gently pressed in a membrane press and pumped to older 60-gallon French oak barrels.

The wine was aged for 12 months, and was racked about every three months up to tank and then back down to barrel to clarify the wine and aid in its development.  In our blending trials, we decided the wine was superb on its own, and did not blend anything else to interfere with the intense, lovely fruit. 

Production Notes

Varietals:	Zinfandel
Appellation:	Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County
Alcohol:	14.8% by vol.
Time in oak:	12 months
Oak:	100% French; 8% new
Production:	392 cases
Release date:	June 1, 2010
Sugg. retail price:	$32.00 bottle, 750mL
Optimum time for consumption:	2010-2017
Arnomas:	Aromatic notes of lavender, violets, and black raspberry

Tasting Notes

Color:	Purple
Taste:	Strawberry jam, black raspberry, chocolate, clove spice, long persistent finish of strawberry and black raspberry fruit, sweet chocolate and spice.