2002 Zinfandel, Casa Santinamaria
“Old Vine, Field Blended ”
Vineyard
Planted in the heart of Sonoma Valley during the late 1800’s, Casa Santinamaria is one of California’a few remaining ‘field blended” vineyards. Unlike the single varietal vineyards of today, field blended vineyards – a traditional European practice brought to California by Italian immigrants – are interplanted with a several complementary varietals intended for the final blend. Our Casa Santinamaria Vineyard is planted to a classic field blend of Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Carignane, Alicante Bouschet and Mataro; all of which play a role in the complexity and structure of the final wine. Due to the age of the vines and the fact that are dry farmed, the yields are well below average for Zinfandel, the clusters are very small and the fruit is very concentrated. In 2002 we were able to harvest only 0.5 tons/acre.
Winemaking
As with the vineyard, our winemaking style is deeply rooted in traditions of Italian field blending. The intent of the field blend is to make the zinfandel more complex and ageworthy by blending with select varietals for structure, most notably petite sirah for backbone. This is the Italian equivalent of France’s classic Bordeaux blends.
In 2002 our Casa Santinamaria Zinfandel was harvested at 26 brix into small bins during the cool of the early morning. The grapes were de-stemmed into an open-top fermenter (95% whole berry), “cold-soaked” for 36 hours, and inoculated with a low rate of yeast to allow the “wild yeast” to have an effect before the cultured yeast takes over. After fermentation the wine was racked to new and one year old French barrels and aged in barrel for 21 months and in bottle for an additional 12. Our extended aging protocol – long by most Zinfandel standards – is in keeping with the traditional barrel aging given fine Bordeaux and Cabernet wines. Our Casa Santinamaria Zinfandel is meant to show fine fruit and nuance in its youth and reward patience with more deeply complexed flavors and structure over time. To experience the unusual aging potential of our Casa Santinamaria Zinfandel, cellar for 10 or more years.
Tasting Notes
Our 2002 Casa Santinamaria Zinfandel has an intense raspberry and dried cranberry signature that seems to run from year to year, along with black cherry/berry, dark chocolate and sweet elegant oak tones. On the mouth this wine has great structure and a melange of dried raspberry, mocha and chocolate dust reminiscent of a decadent raspberry chocolate torte. This is a very rich and long wine.
Case Production: 319 cases
Retail Price : $32/Bottle
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