2011 Buchignani Zinfandel

Spicy aromas of mint, nutmeg, thyme and ripe plums. Medium bodied with fig preserves, black olive, elegant tannins and well balanced acidity.

This is the companion wine to the carignane from the same old-vine vineyard. The zinfandel is planted primarily in the center, side by side with the carignane. The vines are over seventy-five years old, head pruned, and very low-yielding. Cool spring weather delayed bud break; moderate temperatures extended the ripening season. We picked from September 16 to 21. As in years past, we blended in some old-vine carignane to soften tannins and accentuate fruit. After a natural-yeast fermentation, the wine aged for twelve months in air-dried american oak. Delicious now, it will be at its best over the next four to five years.

This wine comes from a small planting of old-vine zinfandel on the Buchignani Ranch on Dutcher Creek Road in the hills north of Dry Creek Valley. (Carignane planted on the rest of the ranch provides a separate ATP selection.) The zinfandel block, approximately five acres in size, was planted in the 1940s and ’50s on a rocky knoll overlooking the family home where Stan Buchignani, grandson of the ranch’s founder, Domenico Cerruti, lives today.

Rainfall: 40 inches (average)
Bloom: Late May
Weather: Wet spring and atypical cool summer with no sustained heat spells.

Harvest Date: 16 September and 21 September
Grapes: Average brix 24.3˚
Fermentation: Grapes fermented on the naturally-occurring yeasts. Pressed at 10 days. Full malolactic carried out without inoculation.
Barrels: Air-dried american oak barrels (25% new, 40% one to two years old, 35% three, four years old).
Aging: Twelve months in barrel

Hand harvested; sustainably farmed grapes; destemmed and crushed; fermented on the native yeasts, followed by a full malolactic on the naturally occurring bacteria; 0.2 g/L tartaric acid added; oak from barrel aging; minimum effective sulfur for this wine (35 ppm at crush, 88 ppm during aging); pad filtered at bottling. In keeping with our philosophy of minimal intervention, this is the sum of our actions.

Average Rating: 89.0

No. of Tasting Notes: 53

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See all food pairing recipes we have created specifically for this wine.