Wine & Spirits - June 2020 - 53

YEAR'S BEST US ZINFANDELS & MIXED BLACKS
SONOMA COUNT Y

DRY CREEK VALLEY

ALEXANDER VALLEY
520295

95 | Ridge

$36

2017 Alexander Valley Boatman Zinfandel (Best Buy) ^ Tim Boatman planted this
vineyard in the 1970s, the bush vines rising up a steep east-facing slope overlooking
Alexander Valley. John Olney has been making a wine from the site since 2014, and it is
quickly becoming a star of Ridge's zinfandel
portfolio (the 2016 earned 93 points). This
wine benefited from an early harvest, at the
end of August, long before the devastating
wildfires at the end of the 2017 season. And
it feels like it captured the August sun in its
rich red-licorice flavors, the scent of roses
on a summer morning, the spice of zinfandel skins and a breath of petrichor that cools
the wine, as if refreshed after a summer rain.
For me, that's exactly what I want in a zin:
complete, complex and packed with energy.
(1,350 cases) § -J.G.

520344
519319

91 | Alexander Valley
Vineyards

$20

90 | Wattle Creek Winery

$34

2016 Alexander Valley Sin Zin Zinfandel
(Best Buy) ^ Everyone on our panel agreed:
This is a pretty great $20 wine. It has layers of
flavor detail, from wild strawberry and wild
cherry to eucalyptus and bay. It's fresh and
juicy, delivering a tight, compact zin with
immediate appeal. This offers a lot of pleasure for summer drinking, with anything off
the grill. (2,400 cases) § -J.G.
520403
2016 Alexander Valley Zinfandel ^ Stemmy
rosemary scents and midnight-blue plum flavors lend freshness and stamina to this zin's
baked fruit. The tense tannins are as dark and
glittery as the night sky, adding to the wine's
burly feel. Still youthfully intense, this will
benefit from the company of lamb grilled
over vine cuttings. (295 cases) § -J.G.

520528

94 | Legacy

$100

2017 Alexander Valley Petite Sirah ^ Barbara Banke purchased the Field Stone estate
in 2016, bringing its ancient petite sirah
vines-survivors from 1894-into the Jackson Family Wines portfolio. Graham Weerts
harvested the fruit from those vines when it
still retained freshness, its dark flavors brisk
and austere as a cold desert night. There's a
green note of agave to the flavors of deepred peach and black-skinned blueberry, the
fruit filling a vast tannic structure, remarkably nimble for a wine of this size. It's the
kind of wine that's so big you can't really take
all of it in at once, but it's not overpowering
or heavy, just mysterious and anxious to rest
in the cellar for years. (395 cases) § -J.G.

CHALK HILL
520297

93 | Ridge

94 | Gary Farrell

$50

92 | Bella

$65

2016 Dry Creek Valley Grist Vineyard
Zinfandel ^ Theresa Heredia makes this wine
from fruit grown in the red volcanic soils of
Bradford Mountain, the vines planted in
1974 at an elevation of 1,000 feet. Those old
vines give fruit with concentrated flavors,
which Heredia captured at the peak of ripeness, creating a wine with a transparent color
that seems to inform its clarity of flavor as
well. It's bright and forest-fresh, layering tart
woodland blueberry and wild cherry flavors
with ethereal tannins, giving the wine both
intensity and grace. (523 cases) § -J.G.
520302
2017 Dry Creek Valley Block 10 Zinfandel ^ This clean, fragrant zin is saturated with
meaty flavor, its velvety tannins layered with
scents close to grilled lamb. A reductive note,
like gunpowder, tightens the wine, focusing
its scent and keeping the dense flavors clean.
This continues to improve over the course of
several days open, so if you serve it now, give
it a few hours in a decanter before dinner.
(114 cases) § -J.G.

$36

2018 Chalk Hill Blasi Zinfandel ^ John
Olney makes this wine from Metcalfe Vineyard, an old-vine site farmed by Gary Blasi;
like all of Ridge's zins, it ferments spontaneously, this one delivering an earthy wine
with a welcoming plump and velvety texture.
With its volcanic-soil character (Chalk Hill is
named for the volcanic ash that gives its soil
its whiteness), it reminded Nathaniel Muñoz
of Bar Avalon in LA of an Etna wine. It also
has a briskness that contrasts its comforting
texture, and notes of peach, wild thyme and
marjoram that last, with fragrant scents of
rose. (500 cases) § -J.G.

520391

92 | Dry Creek Vineyard

$40

2017 Dry Creek Valley Estate Spencer's
Hill Vineyard Petite Sirah ^ Subdued at first,
this wine feels cool and zesty in its potent
flavors of black currant and black cherry,
the ripe fruit coming up against substantial
tannins. Give it time and the floral tones of
the fruit emerge, the tannins feeling generous and rich, even as they maintain a crisp
alignment for all the flavor. Built to cellar ten
years or more. (647 cases) § -J.G.
518046

WINE & SPIRITS

JUNE 2020

http://shop.avvwine.com/shop/p-319-2016-sin-zin.aspx https://www.garyfarrellwinery.com/wines/ https://www.legacywines.com/wines https://store.drycreekvineyard.com/Red-Wines

Wine & Spirits - June 2020

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