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.
Planted in the early 1900’s this head pruned vineyard is a traditional planting of Zinfandel interplanted with Carignane, Petite Sirah, Mataro and Alicante Bouchet. The vineyard is situated in Contra Costa County and farmed by Tom Del Barba.
Crimson in color. 14.7% ABV. Gorgeous nose of red and black fruits, licorice, eucalyptus and cocoa. Medium to full bodied with mouth watering acidity. Impressive structure and concentration. Black cherry, black raspberry, roasted herbs and chocolate on the palate. Tremendous length on the finish. Delicious Mataro that will age well. Best over the next 6-8 years.
My rating: 93 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 2024 vintage set of wines will be released next Spring.
I blogged about Once & Future previously in The 2021 Once & Future Zins with Joel Peterson in Bedrock Vineyard.