Joel Peterson founded Ravenswood Winery in 1976 with a focus on Single Vineyard Zinfandel. Ravenswood was immensely successful and over time began producing in excess of a million cases per year. Once & Future is the return to the original vision Joel had for Ravenswood so many years ago – a small project specializing in wines from unique older vineyards. At present time Once & Future makes several Zins along with a Merlot, Mataro and Petite Sirah.
Teldeschi Vineyard is spread across three ranches on the east bench of Dry Creek Valley. The vineyard dates back to the 1890’s.
Purple in color. 15% ABV. Sublime nose of red fruits, peach and licorice. Medium body with perfect acidity. Lush and elegant with impeccable balance. Strawberry, cherry, raspberry liqueur and pepper on the palate. Exceptional length on the finish. Super Zinfandel that seems to pick up weight and structure with time in the glass. Like most Zins from Joel Peterson this should age well. Best over the next 3-4 years.
My rating: 94 points.
I always hesitate to suggest yet another mailing list to my readers but I’ll make an exception here. Sign up soon as I suspect these wines will be hard to come by in the not so distant future. The next release should be sometime next Spring.