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. Joel eventually sold Ravenswood to Constellation. I recall going to Ravenswood every August in the mid nineties for the release of their Single Vineyard Zins with the intent of securing coveted bottles of Old Hill, Dickerson, Cooke and Belloni. 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.
Dark crimson in color. 15% ABV. Sublime nose of black and red fruits, anise, eucalyptus and pepper. Medium to full bodied with perfect acidity. Bright, juicy fruits in spades. Impeccably balanced. Blackberry, raspberry liqueur, plums and pepper on the palate. Tremendous length on the finish. Just a great appellation wine from the mast of appellation wines, Joel Peterson. We are fortunate this was added to the Once & Future lineup in the last few years. Enjoy this beauty between now and 2030.
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 2022 vintage set of wines will released be in early 2024.
I recently visited with Joel and wrote about it in The 2021 Once & Future Zins with Joel Peterson in Bedrock Vineyard.