2018 Ridge Blasi Zinfandel

Purple/red color, black cherry, cocoa, toasty oak on the nose. Full bodied and soft textured on the palate with blackberry fruit and subtle mint on the finish. JO (1/20)

Mild weather during the growing season extended the ripening period at this old vine vineyard into late September. We picked three weeks later than usual. The slower pace of maturation allowed full flavor development with balanced acidity. To highlight the expression of fruit, new oak was limited to fifteen percent. Enjoyable as a young wine, this rich, elegant zinfandel will mature over the next six years.

Winter rains were light this year, totaling 25 inches. Rains in April and May helped the vines get through the summer.

Fermentation: Natural primary and secondary for ten days in small fermentors.
Barrels: 100% air-dried American oak barrels (15% new, 45% three years-old, and 40% three 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;tartaric acid; oak from barrel aging; minimum effective sulfur for this wine (35 ppm at crush, 130 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.