2015 Zinfandel, Louvau Old Vines

History

These vines are over 100-years-old and produce classic Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel. The vines grow straight out of the rocky soil on the “bench” of the east Dry Creek valley. They are beautiful old vines, with gnarled trunks quite low to the ground, head-trained, and dry-farmed, resulting in tiny yields of concentrated fruit.

Production

As is typical, these vines ripened early and were harvested in early September.  Although very old, the vines produced almost three tons per acre, a very respectable quantity of grapes for such ancient vines.  

As always, we hand-sorted the grapes on a conveyor belt on the way to the crusher to eliminate any leaves, rocks, or imperfect fruit. The crushed grapes were then fermented using only the native yeast population on the surface of the grapes (rather than commercial dried yeasts) to conduct the fermentation. At dryness, the wine was gently pressed in a membrane press and pumped into traditional 60-gallon oak barrels. The wine was aged for 18 months in one-year or older French oak barrels, to keep the vibrancy of the fruit.  

Production: 103 cases

Tasting Notes

2022 Library Release: The wine has aged beautifully, developing a brick-red color and becoming more complex, with flavors of plum, chocolate, and black raspberry.