2017 'The Comet', Sonoma Valley

History

The Comet is a blend of three varietals that completment each other beautifully: Zinfandel, Carignane, and Petite Sirah. Together, they make a rich, complex, full-bodied wine with a tremendous depth of flavor. Each varietal adds flavor components and textural elements that create a wine that is a perfect complement to grilled meats or savory sauces—you can use The Comet to accompany foods much the way you would a nicely-aged Cabernet Sauvignon. 

The Petite Sirah comes from the Todd Brothers Ranch, a steep, red-rock vineyard in the Alexander Valley, where the vines struggle to produce a small quantity of grapes resulting in great intensity and structure. The old-vine Carignane comes from 100+ year old vines from the historic Oat Valley vineyard in the Alexander Valley.  Finally, the Zinfandel comes from 100 year old vines on one of most favorite vineyards in the Dry Creek Valley, the Louvau family vineyard. 

Production

The vintage of 2017 was a challenging year, with variable temperatures and fires in the wine country that devestated parts of Sonoma County.   Luckily, we harvested our grapes before the fires began, and so were unaffected by the fires.  Our vineyards produced relatively small yields, resulting in dark, highly flavored wines. We fermented each grape varietal separately, using the native yeasts resident on the grape skins, and aged the wine for 14 months in French oak barrels. At blending, we used 25% of Petite Sirah to maximize richness and added 10% of Carignane as a “spice rack” wine for bright fruit and complexity. The resulting wine absolutely shines with its rich texture and depth of  flavors.

Production: 381 cases

Tasting Notes