Reichwage Winery was founded in 2014 by Max Reichwage to fulfill a dream of producing small quantities of classically made Pinot Noir and Zinfandel. Max is the owner and winemaker. Before starting the winery Max studied chemistry at the University of Michigan, and viticulture and enology at University California Davis. Reichwage has two estate vineyards in Sonoma County: Twin Hills and…
Carlisle Winery & Vineyards was founded in 1998 by Mike and Kendall Officer. Their passion is clear: Small lots of Zinfandel and Syrah from exceptional, historic vineyards. Many of these vineyards are heritage sites planted by Italian immigrants and date back to the late 1800s . Monte Rosso was planted in the 1880’s by Emanuel Goldstein and the original winery is…
Zinfandel of the Month is a regular feature on Zinfandel Chronicles. Keep in mind that although the Zinfandel of the Month might be an older bottle, the current vintage will be one you can find at retail or via the mailing list. The August Zinfandel of the Month is the 2018 Reichwage Winery Zinfandel Mancini Ranch Vineyard. I chose this…
Dry Creek Vineyard was founded in 1972 by David S. Stare. Kim Stare Wallace now runs the winery and Tim Bell is the winemaker. Dry Creek Vineyard makes a wide array of wines but is certainly best know for it’s Zinfandel program. Purple in color. 14.5% ABV. 81% Zinfandel and 19% Petite Sirah. Savory nose of black fruits, plums and…
Turley Wine Cellars was founded in 1993 by Larry Turley and specializes in small lots of Zinfandel and Petite Sirah from some of California’s most historic and treasured vineyards. Turley now makes right around 50 separate wines from 47 different vineyards, some with vines that date back to the late 1800’s. Tegan Passalacqua is the Director of Winemaking at Turley and…
Bedrock Wine Co. was founded by Morgan Twain-Peterson in 2007 and focuses on small production wines from many of California’ s most treasured and historic vineyards. The lineup of wines at Bedrock is expanding rapidly, but I think the best of the best are the ancient vineyard Zinfandels, Morgan is clearly passion about. This amazing survivor vineyard is indeed ‘under…
Ridge Vineyards was founded in 1959 when three Stanford Research Institute engineers bought an abandoned winery in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The vineyards had been planted in the late 19th century by a San Francisco physician who produced his first vintage in the original winery, called Monte Bello, in 1892. The first Ridge vintage was in 1962. John Olney is Head…
Joe Martin established St. Francis Vineyard in 1971, planting 22 acres of Chardonnay and the first 60 acres of Merlot in Sonoma Valley. After achieving great success as a grower, Joe opened his own St. Francis Winery in 1979 with his business partner Lloyd Canton. Katie Madigan is the winemaker who oversees the Zinfandel program. Sourced from a number of…
Sandlands is the personal project of Tegan and Olivia Passalacqua. Tegan is the Winemaker and Vineyard Manager at Turley. The line-up encompasses some of the forgotten classic California varieties, primarily grown in decomposed granite from regions and vineyards that have been farmed for many generations but have remained the outliers of California viticulture. The wines made at Sandlands include Syrah,…
Turley Wine Cellars was founded in 1993 by Larry Turley and specializes in small lots of Zinfandel and Petite Sirah from some of California’s most historic and treasured vineyards. Turley now makes right around 50 separate wines from 47 different vineyards, some with vines that date back to the late 1800’s. Tegan Passalacqua is the Director of Winemaking at Turley and…