2015 Buchignani Zinfandel

Aromas of raspberry, plum and nutmeg. Medium-to-full bodied, chapparal, minerally red fruit, elegant tannins and a lingering finish. JO (1/20)

Two days of extreme heat in mid-August pushed Buchignani’s old zinfandel vines to ripeness. Half the grapes fermented with a submerged cap to enhance the extraction of color and tannin. After combining zinfandel from the House and Top blocks, we added carignane from an adjoining parcel to balance acidity. After 12 months in barrel, fruit, tannin and oak spice are well integrated. This full-bodied zinfandel will be enjoyable over the next 5-6 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: 33 inches (below normal)
Bloom: Mid May
Weather: Very wet December, followed by the driest January on record (0.05”). Cool, wet spring weather helped with rainfall totals, but reduced our crop across all varieties.

Harvest Dates: 17-20 August
Grapes: Average Brix 24.4˚
TA: 6.36 g/L
pH: 3.64
Fermentation: Grapes destemmed and crushed, fermented on the naturally occurring yeast, twice daily pump-overs. Pressed at ten days. Full malolactic without inoculation.
Barrels: 100% air-dried american oak barrels (20% new, 15% one year-old, 18% two years-old, and 30% three years-old and 17% four years-old)
Aging: Twelve months in barrel

Hand-harvested, sustainably grown grapes; indigenous yeast, naturally occurring malolactic bacteria; 0.25 g/L tartaric acid added; oak from barrel aging; minimum effective SO2 (35 ppm at crush, 67 ppm during aging); pad filtered at bottling. In keeping with our philosophy of minimal intervention, this is the sum of our actions.

Average Rating: 90.8

No. of Tasting Notes: 41

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