Bottle Notes, Zinfandel

2018 Carlisle Zinfandel Montafi Ranch – Bottle Notes

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. Mike recently announced his retirement and subsequently 2024 will be the last vintage of wines produced…

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Bottle Notes, Zinfandel

2022 Limerick Lane Estate Cuvée – Bottle Notes

Limerick Lane Cellars is in the Russian River Valley just south of the town of Healdsburg. The Del Fava family planted the oldest currently producing vineyard at Limerick Lane in 1910, a field blend consisting mostly of Zinfandel. In 1977, the Del Favas sold their thirty acre property to brothers Michael and Tom Collins. The two brothers began by selling…

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Bottle Notes, Zinfandel

2021 A. Rafanelli Zinfandel – Bottle Notes

Alberto Rafanelli, an Italian immigrant, first founded A. Rafanelli Winery in the early 1900’s. It wasn’t until the early 70’s that Alberto’s son, Americo, came out with the present day label and started selling the wine commercially. David and Patty Rafanelli now run the winery and a 4th generation Rafanelli, their daughter Shelly, is the winemaker. The winery is perhaps…

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Bottle Notes, Zinfandel

2018 Bedrock Wine Co. Heritage Wine Bedrock Vineyard – Bottle Notes

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 passionate about. Bedrock Vineyard, formerly known as Madrone Ranch,…

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Bottle Notes, Zinfandel

2018 Turley Zinfandel Mead Ranch – Bottle Notes

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…

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Mancini Ranch
Bottle Notes

Top 10 Zinfandels Tasted in 2025

It is the time of the year where every wine blogger publishes their lists of Wines of the Year or Values of the Year, etc. Although I try to blog about all the wines I taste it is clear that Zinfandel is definitely my grape of choice. The link for each wine will take you to the detailed Bottle Note…

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