The 2002 Old Vine Zinfandel is comprised of the best selection of Old Vine vineyard lots in the valley, each adding its own nuance and complexity to the final blend. The 2002 Old Vine Zinfandel is deep ruby in color. The bouquet consists of brown sugar, caramel, sage, eucalyptus, and bursting with dark berry fruit. The flavor is a sumptuous blend of warm blackberries on the forward, with a hint of dried fruit, finishing with sweet fleshy tannins.The growing season of 2002 will be remembered for its high quality and short, condensed harvest. Ideal weather patterns during the growing season resulted in small berries and high flavor extraction in the wines. A very cool summer provided slow and consistent flavor development. A warmer than usual September and October accelerated the sugars resulting in a very intense and compacted harvest period. The weather remained dry throughout the harvest resulting in perfect fruit conditions.
Our Old Vine Zinfandel is a classic Zinfandel available in fine restaurants and retailers throughout America. It is a distinctive Zinfandel from over a dozen of Amador County's oldest and mot venerable vineyards. With an average age of at least 50 years, these "head pruned" low-yielding sites provide us with a wonderful selection of even ripened concentrated Zinfandel fruit that fives us great complexity and depth.
Small lot fermentation allowed us to concentrate the flavors and characters from each individual block. This technique preserves the uniqueness that each separate lot provides us. Later, we blend these lots together for greater complexity in the wine than if we had blended them at harvest. Oak aging is the key ingredient to turn this young precocious wine into the magnificent elixir, which is Old Vine Zinfandel. Our use of small amount of new American oak along with older American and French oak is the seasoning that rounds the wine and mellows the tannins. The lots were all assembled in June of 2004 and the wine bottled in July 2004.
Awards:
Gold Medal - 2005 Los Angeles County Fair Wines of the World Competition
Silver Medal - 2005 Riverside International Wine Competition
Silver Medal - 2005 Eastern International Wine Competition
Silver Medal - 2005 Tasters Guild International Wine Competition
Silver Medal - 2005 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition
Silver Medal - 2005 Hilton Head Wine Festival
Silver Medal - 2005 Dallas Morning News Wine Competition
Silver Medal - 2005 Finger Lakes International Wine Competition
Bronze Medal - 2005 California State Fair
Bronze Medal - 2005 San Diego Wine Competition
Bronze Medal - 2005 PacRim International Wine Competition
Bronze Medal - 2005 Orange County Fair Wine Competition
Technical Data:
Vintage: 2002
Aged: 19 months
Bottled : July 2004
Production: 30,000
Alcohol:
15.0%
pH: 3.44
TA: 0.68g/100ml
Appellation: Amador County
Suggested Retail Price: $20.00