2016 Ridge Blasi Zinfandel

Raspberry, dried cherry and rose petal on the nose. Medium bodied, with mineral notes and a bright clean finish. JO (7/18)

A warm, mild summer extended the growing season allowing flavors to fully develop. We hand harvested on September 14. During fermentation the juice was pumped over the skins twice daily. Limiting new oak to only 15% minimized its effect on the pure fruit expression typical of this vineyard. Enjoyable on release, it will evolve beautifully over the next five-to-six years.

A very wet December and January helped ease the drought which emphatically ended in March. Cool weather in April reduced the crop. Harvest started mid-September and finished quickly.

Harvest Dates: 14 September
Grapes: Average brix 25.0°
Fermentation: Natural primary and secondary for nine days in small fermentors.
Barrels: 100% air-dried american oak: (15% new, 10% one year old, 50% four years old and 25% five years old).
Aging: Ten months in barrel

All Blasi estate grown grapes, hand-harvested; destemmed and crushed; fermented on the native yeasts, followed by full malolactic on the naturally occurring bacteria; minimum effective sulfur for this wine (35 ppm at crush, 57 ppm over the course of aging), pad filtered at bottling. In keeping with our philosophy of minimal intervention, this is the sum of our actions.

Gary Blasi has been farming this old vines vineyard in the Chalk Hill appellation for over forty years on a handshake agreement with owner Jim Metcalfe. This is the second time the wine has been labeled with Gary’s name to credit his many years of meticulously farming this classic vineyard.