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. Primarily sourced from Green & Red and Dickerson vineyards. Savory nose of black fruits, plums, spices and earth. Full bodied with medium acidity. Warm, supple and eminently approachable. Black cherry, blackberry, cranberry and pepper on the palate. Nice length on the finish. Delicious and best over the near term while we let the single vineyard wines cellar a little bit longer. Drink over the next 2-3 years.
My rating: 91 points.
Joel stopped making this wine after this vintage and I am not sure if it will get added back into the lineup at some point in the future.
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 released be in the coming months.
I recently visited with Joel and wrote about it in The 2021 Once & Future Zins with Joel Peterson in Bedrock Vineyard.