2016 Zinfandel, Lily Hill Vineyard
History
A special bottling, only available to the Dashe Cellars Wine Club. Only 75 cases produced. Owned by Scott and Lynn Adams, of Bella Vineyards and Winecaves, this vineyard was named for their daughter Lillia. A steep, rocky slope with a very thin layer of dirt over red volcanic rock, these vines struggle to produce tiny amounts of black, intense grapes. It produces one of the most intense, flavorful Dry Creek valley Zinfandels in the Dashe Cellars lineup.
Production
The ideal ripening conditions in 2016 produced perfectly mature Zinfandel grapes from these vines. We harvested into ½ ton picking bins, hand-sorted the fruit on conveyors, and fermented the grapes using the native yeasts on the grapes. These grapes always ferment slowly, and the wine characteristically is very dark and extremely intense in flavor due to the time on skins. Because it’s a structured wine, we let it age for 14 months in a combination of new and older French oak barrels. As the wine aged, it deepened in color and developed a complexity and firm structure that we believe will help the wine improve with up to ten years of bottle age.
Production: 75 cases
Tasting Notes
| Color: | Dark purple red |
| Aromas: | Black cherry, cassis, plum, coffee, minerals, and rosemary spice |
| Taste: | Black current, black raspberry, peppery spice, and chocolate on entry. This is a huge wine, showing great viscosity, firm acid, good balance, and firm tannins in the midpalate and finish. The finish persists for minutes, showing a great fruit-driven, spicy long finish. The depth of flavors, acidity, and round tannins will make this quite a long-aging wine. |