2024 Belloni Zinfandel

Very dark in color. Aromas of stone fruit, raspberry, mint chocolate and anise. Concentrated and structured with well-coated tannins. Flavors of blueberry, blackberry, baking spice and minerality. SR (1/26)

The Belloni Vineyard, on Wood Road in the Russian River Valley, features early-1900’s, head-trained vines. This dry-farmed, zinfandel-dominant field blend is notable for its high proportion of interplanted varieties. The rainy winter and steady growing conditions yielded compact clusters, bright acidity, and concentration. This unique wine embodies the vineyard’s quiet, enduring character. It is enjoyable now, and over the next six years. SR (11/25)

Belloni Vineyard was planted in the early part of the 20th century. Catabriga, who owned the original vineyard, split it up and passed along each separate parcel (Chelli, Belloni and Rue) to his daughters. Ricardo Belloni, who grew up near Parma, Italy, purchased the vineyard from Eugene and Inez Muzio in 1971. Ricardo passed away in 1997 and his widow Natalia now manages the 7.5-acre vineyard with the assistance of her children and grandchildren. The vineyard is a classic old California field blend comprised of Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Carignane, Alicante Bouche, and with a little Mataro in the mix.

Rainfall: 50 inches (above normal)
Bloom: Early May
Weather: A cool start to the season. From early June on, the weather was warm to hot, leading to a condensed harvest.

Harvest Dates: 13 September
Grapes: Average Brix 24.8˚
pH:
Fermentation: Destemmed and fully crushed into stainless steel tank. Native fermentation was encouraged by two pumpovers daily. Pressed before dryness. Naturally-occurring malolactic in stainless steel tank.
Barrels: 100% air-dried American oak barrels (15% new, 1% one year old, 10% two years old, and 74% five-plus years old)
Aging: Fourteen months in barrel

Hand-harvested grapes; destemmed and crushed; fermented on the native yeasts, followed by full malolactic on the naturally occurring bacteria; oak from barrel aging; minimum effective sulfur for this wine (35 ppm at crush; 262 ppm over the course of aging); pad filtered at bottling. In keeping with our philosophy of minimal intervention, this is the sum of our actions.