A Deep Rich Zinfandel from Seghesio in California

As I mentioned in my last post, I did a tasting in New York at the beginning of the year, and the other wine that I really thought that was worth mentioning, was the 2010 Seghesio Sonoma Zinfandel.

The original vineyards in the Alexander Valley were planted in 1895 with Zinfandel by Eduardo Seghesio, who was an Italian immigrant from Piedmont and had left for America in 1886, where he met his wife Angela. The winery was completed in 1902 and over the coming years they bought further plots of land which they planted with more traditional Italian grapes. Over the years they bought more and more vineyards, including Eduardo’s previous employers,Italian Swiss Colony, which caused them problems through the era of prohibition. Upon prohibition being repealed they opened the doors to the winery and started there comeback, they continued to produce wine under Eduardo’s wife Angela’s stewardship, until her passing in 1958. The winery continued to be run by their son’s, who had until the mid 1970’s moved the business to producing bulk wine, and with much success. Then in 1983, the first wines bottled and sold under the Seghesio brand were produced by fourth generation winemaker Ted Seghesio all from estate grown fruit, today they are part of the Crimson Wine Group.

The Zinfandel grape is a distant relation to Primitivo and one of my favourite varietals, and I have to say this one did not disappoint, with this wine though they also blend in small proportion of Petit Syrah just give it another dimension.

In the glass you got a deep/opaque inky purple colour, with wonderfully pronounced aromas of dark berry fruit and a touch of spice. On the palate these came through in great depth, with flavours of blackberries, blue berries followed by the spice. The tannins were juicy but in balance with the fruit flavours and just enough acidity helped make the length of flavours last for what seemed like forever.

As I’ve already mentioned, Zinfandel is one of my favourite grapes, and this wine certainly did not disappoint, it is most definitely one that would highly recommend and will definitely be making a repeat purchase of.

The King of Zin Does it Again

At the 2008 London International Wine Fair, I got the chance to meet Joel Petterson who’s more affectionately known as the “King of Zin”, and is the wine maker behind the great wines from the Ravenswood winery in California. Unfortunately and I’m not quite sure why, I didn’t taste any of his wines that day, so I’d been looking for an excuse too, not that I ever need one!

I opened a bottle of Ravenswood Lodi Old Vines Zinfandel 2006 (Adegga) the other day, for myself and friend to enjoy as she’s a huge fan of Californian Zinfandel. Now despite saying Zinfandel on the label it is actually a blend of Zinfandel (76%) and Petite Syrah (24%) which just helps to give it a greater depth and complexity of flavour.

It had an opaque purple colour with pronounced aromas of Plums, Blueberries and a touch of spice from the oak ageing in the background. You got all these aromas coming through on the palate, where the spicy notes revealed themselves as Vanilla and Liquorice, you also got a touch of cocoa just to add to the mix. All these flavours, with the good levels of acidity and juicy tannins went on to produce a fantastic and beautifully balanced wine which is definitely worth more than the £8 price tag it has at the moment.

If you like your red to have plenty of flavour and body then you can’t go wrong with this wine, which can be enjoyed equally on its own or with food. It definitely goes into my top ten 10!