2002 Nervo Zinfandel

In 1896, the Nervo family purchased land—including a small hillside vineyard—in Geyserville Township. The largest remaining vineyard block dates from that era, and provides the grapes for two-thirds of this wine. The petite sirah included here is interplanted on the old block; the rest of the zinfandel comes from younger vines to the south. Mild spring weather returned crop levels to normal. Summer’s warm days and cool nights matured the fruit, while maintaining firm acidity. After natural (uninoculated) primary and secondary fermentations, the wine aged for sixteen months in air-dried american oak barrels. A third of these were new and one year old, a third two years old, and a third five. This fine, well-structured zinfandel is rich in briary fruit and exotic old-vine spice. Approachable as a young wine, it will benefit from two or three years of bottle age.

Frank and Marie Nervo left Italy’s Veneto for the United States in the early 1890s. Like many such Italian pioneers to northern California, they settled at the Italian Swiss Colony in Asti. In 1896, they were able to purchase two hundred and fifty acres south of Geyserville; it included ten acres of hillside vineyard. They planted more vines and, in 1908, built a square, two-story stone winery, which they named Venezia, after their home region.

Average Rating: 87.6

No. of Tasting Notes: 22

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