2004 Zinfandel, Parmelee-Hill "Stonewall Block"

Vineyard:
The fruit for this wine is from the tiny Stonewall Block of Sonoma’s Parmelee-Hill Vineyard; a site which is contiguous with the famed Durrell Vineyard and shares the same vineyard management. The 1.5 acre Stonewall Block is named for the vineyard’s beautiful stone walls, constructed by Chinese laborers in the mid 1800’s. Situated at the base of Sonoma Mountain, the Stonewall Block’s cool climate and rocky, well-drained soils produce moderate yields of intensely rich and vibrant Zinfandel.

Winemaking:
In contrast to our Casa Santinamaria Zinfandel, this wine is 100% Zinfandel and reveals more of the classic jammy varietal character. To produce this more fruit forward style, we harvested at 25.5 brix, de-stemmed into open top fermentors, “cold soaked” for 36 hours and inoculated with a low rate of yeast before racking to a mix of new and one year old French barrels for 14 months aging.

Tasting Notes :
Our Parmelee-Hill Stonewall Block Zinfandel has an opulent nose of ripe plum, black cherry, allspice, milk chocolate and cedar and eucalyptus. The mouth is full and complex with textured layers of dark fruit leading to a long, sweet-oak finish.

Case Production: 168
Retail Price: $28/ Bottle

"Best of Tasting... We love his vineyard's voice"   >>more

93 POINTS - "Led in the nose by lots of juicy, well-ripened berries with plenty of creamy oak filling in all of the spaces, this very successful wine balances its very obvious ripeness against a most generous measure of fruit and comes up a resounding winner. From front to back it is nicely balanced and shows nary a hint of softness along the way, and the scant heat that peeks through in the finish is well-buffered by its continuous fruit. It is, in short, a deeply filled Zin that will marry comfortably with foods, and it cannot do other than get better if allowed a few years of bottle age."

93 points – "From fruit picked next to the famed Durell Vineyard, Jeff Gaffner makes a bright and booming gem."

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