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2005 Zinfandel Florence Vineyard
This is our first vintage from this excellent little vineyard on the northern tip of Dry Creek Valley. The grapes from this
vineyard were planted from cuttings of the famous St. Peters Church clone taken from vines on the Rockpile Ranch The 2005
vintage in Dry Creek featured a picture-perfect ripening season—warm and extended—which produced one of our most
classic Dry Creek zinfandel blends. Dry Creek zinfandels are famous for their balance of fruit, spice, and velvety texture, and
our 2005 Dry Creek zin is a great example of that style. The wine is extremely dark, with flavors of black raspberry,
chocolate, clove spice, and floral hints of violets and lavender. With its rich, velvety texture and long, complex finish, this is
certain to be one of our most popular Dry Creek Valley zinfandels. |
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2005 Zinfandel Florence Vineyard, Dry Creek Valley
History
This is our first vintage from this excellent little vineyard on the northern tip of Dry Creek Valley. The grapes from this vineyard were planted from cuttings of the St. Peters Church clone, and the cuttings were directly taken from vines on the famous Rockpile Ranch in northern Dry Creek. This first wine just bowled us over with its intensely aromatic nose, its round, lush mouthfeel, and its array of complex flavors.
The 2005 vintage in Dry Creek produced extraordinary wines. It featured a picture-perfect ripening season—warm and extended—which produced very dark, complex, and lush-bodied wines. The wine from Florence vineyard was particularly showy from the start—even in the fermenter—with its jet-black color, perfumed aromas 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, using these grids, 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 above 90º F, to aid in the extraction of color and flavor. At dryness, the wine was gently pressed in a membrane press and pumped to small, 60-gallon French oak barrels.
The wine was aged for 14 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: 100% Zinfandel from the Florence Ranch
Appellation: Dry Creek Valley,Sonoma County
Alcohol: 14.6 % by vol.
Time in oak: 14 months
Oak: 100% French; 18% new
Production: 190 cases, 750mL
Release date: July 1, 2007
Sugg. retail price: $32.00 bottle, 750mL
Optimum time for consumption: 2007-2014
Tasting Notes
Color: Purple-black
Aroma: Exteremly aromatic floral aromas of lavender, violets, mixed with black raspberry, cassis, black pepper, chocolate, dusty/mineral, lavender, and clove.
Taste: Black raspberry, cassis, chocolate, clove spice, thick and velvety texture on the mid-palate, long persistant finish of blackberry and black raspberry fruit, sweet chocolate and spice.
