Only 8 barrels wer produced from this small block on a ridge just north of the little town of Occidental in the Russian River Valley of Sonoma County, California. This is a dry farmed vineyard specific wine from the Morelli Lane Vineyard and tasted excellent from start to finish. This bottle was made from only one and a half acres of old vine Zinfandel from the turn of the century (20th). When Keel and I were tasting at the Dutton-Goldfield tasting room at about 11am during a visit last summer to Sonoma, we went through a nice flight from Davis Bynum (whom D-G shares a tasting room with) but when we got to the D-Gs we knew we had found the good stuff. Bynum was nice for a warm up but the quality comes from bottles such as this one. We had to bring one home and unfortunately this is all we have left. Time for more.
Color: Black plum
Nose: Ripe plum, black cherry, and with, frankly, a big fruity nose that was rich and layered
Taste: This is Russian River Zinfandel done well with a rich, full, fruit forward expression from the grapes. Earthy with a bit of smoke and pleasant mild pepper. Suprisingly there were hints of leather notes on this early 2004 vintage. Truly excellent all the way through. A bit of tannins remain but well rounded and gentle. The fruit isn't too big for this Cali style. I mean, yes it's big, but not a punch in the face which can sometimes happen with Zin. Ripe, pleasant and perfect for pre-dinner drinking. I wish we had more of this because I could open this bottle day after day. Spices come out the more it breathes so if you happen to get a bottle don't pound it. After about 20 minutes (we were putting a rosemary roasted chicken, stock, potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, and celery into a pot for chicken noodle soup) I noticed the fruit sweeten and a fuller body develop. If you get a chance, check out the D-G website for available wines.
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