Who Bottles a "*****" Vineyard" Zinfandel?

We talk a lot about the single-vineyard wines from old-vine Zin producers, but I am not sure how often a particular site is the focus, with several producers’ interpretations of the vineyard’s fruit as the point of discussion.


I have stumbled across a small number of wineries who offer a single-vineyard Zinfandel from the “Limerick Lane Vineyards” (Bilbro Family-era).


Personally, the Bedrock Wine Company 2013 “Limerick Lane Vineyard” Zin was my first discovery, followed by the Carlisle 2012 “Limerick Lane Vineyard” Zin. Then there’s the Matthiasson, Novy, and Biale single-vineyard Zins.

★ A big surprise for me was the initial announcement from Pinot and Chardonnay producer AldenAlli Winery, who currently is offering a 2015 vineyard-designated bottling. Tom Lee’s Zinfandel Chronicles just posted a great tasting note for this one. ★
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The last major Wine Berserkers thread on winemaking interpretation of the “Limerick Lane Vineyards” was probably Mr Peterson’s awesome report on the “6th Annual HVS tasting event at Limerick Lane”.

The REAL treat was the “Life’s a Holiday at Limerick Lane” event/TN report from Brian.




Beyond sharing personal tasting experiences and opinions on “Limerick Lane” Zins, I invite anyone to chime in on other prominent old-vine vineyards that are subject to more than one winemaker’s interpretation (example: “Papera Ranch”, “Bedrock Vineyard”, etc).

I would think Bien Nacido would fit that bill. Many wineries use that vineyard.

Pagani Ranch, Bedrock Vineyard and Papera Ranch quickly come to mind.

Thought the thread was going to be anout “White” Zinfandel. [snort.gif]

There have been a few from the Hayne Vineyard, to add to the others mentioned.

Thanks,
Ed

I really would dig tasters’ thoughts on specific winemakers’ interpretations (stylistic differences, etc) of the same vineyard’s fruit IF anybody has a good enough memory or has done a head-to-head taste-off. :slight_smile:

TIA

I wish there were more White Zin bottlings from the legendary Smoot-Hawley Vineyard to compare against Turley’s version! :wink:

Over the years there have been many producers with different presentations from the Grandpere Vineyard in The Shenandoah Valley.

With regards to the Limerick Lane vineyard Gary Farrell use to bottle a Collins Vineyard zinfandel from LL.
A couple other vineyards that have been produced by other wineries can include Maple Vineyard and Rochioli Vineyard.

Other vineyards that meet the criteria:

Monte Rosso - Bedrock, Carlisle, Seghesio, Amapola Creek and Biale.

Kirschenmann - Turley, Bedrock, Carlisle, Arnot Roberts.

Tom

Thoughts on the different winemaking approaches?

Larner, Thompson, James Berry, Stolpman, Bien Nacido…

Uhhhh…I think we were talking Zin here, Michael.
I’ve always wondered why there’s next to none Zin planted in SBCnty. They used to have Zin planted
at LaFond that was excellent…very c-c/black pepper. But they pulled it out, alas.
I would think on the Eastern end of the SYVlly, they could grow good Zin.
Tom

I took the OP’s last sentence to mean any grape.
“I invite anyone to chime in on other prominent old-vine vineyards that are subject to more than one winemaker’s interpretation”. If I am wrong, won’t be the first time. Won’t be the last time.

Not to mention the long, lost Ravenswood Monte Rosso Zins.

Fair enough, Michael. Understand.
Tom

Esola

Drew - AFIK Lodi wine growers has or had a project specifically to do what the you’re interested in. You might want to see what they’re doing.

Yup, Greg…the Lodi growers have a special project called Lodi Native. The various winemakers use the same grapes
and make the wines in their own style/techniques. It’s very interesting to taste thru the set side-by-side.
Tom

The wineries participating in the Lodi Native program have turned out some really good wines that are quite different from their regular Zin bottlings from the same vineyards, but each winery uses a different vineyard that they already work with (two interpretations of a vineyard by the same winemaker in all cases). They don’t all make their wines from a single common vineyard, so I’m not sure this is really what Drew had in mind: https://www.lodinative.com/about/

I really wanted to read Berserkers’ impressions of wines made by different wineries using grapes from the same site.


An example: “I think that the Ridge Vineyards 2012 'Pagani Ranch” Zin is like *******; in contrast, my impression of the Carlisle 2012 ‘Pagani Ranch’ tastes more like *****. On the other hand, I tried the Bedrock 2012 ‘Pagani Ranch’ Heritage Red Wine, and I thought ********."


I hope that this clears things up a bit. As to whether the base grape variety is Zinfandel, Pinot Noir, Syrah, or something else, I welcome all comers!