Posted from CellarTracker
Thanks for the note. Eric threw one into my much delayed (mostly my fault) Berserker Day buy from 2020. I was unsure about drinking it, but will tee it up.
Had several bottles of the Ladd Cellars Primitivo and it has never disappointed. wish it was still made. Very fine food wine and also good at the Bocci court 
Did Eric just stop making it, or did he lose access in some way?
Thanks for the comments!
There are two stories about this:
First, I had planned to make a 2016. I called the vineyard owner a week+ ahead to let him know I wanted to pick (in 2016, of course). I checked in a couple of days ahead. I was driving up (to the vineyard, above Placerville @ ~3000ft elevation) in a rented truck (with my bins) the night before the pick. I got a text message from the owner saying ‘Sorry, your grapes were picked by mistake’. Wait, what? How do you forget about something like that?
I was interested in other grapes the next year (from the same vineyard)…we had a verbal agreement that evaporated in a similar manner (in early summer). I suspect his crew didn’t like doing smaller picks, but sheesh let me know what’s going on.
In the end tho, it was good I only made the one vintage. I poured this for many high end restaurants (and others, and shops), who all said the same thing, almost word for word: “I absolutely love the wine, but there’s no Fing way I’m putting this on my wine list”. Cal-Ital wines aren’t always the easiest to sell, including for restaurants, and Primitivo is at the bottom of the Italian grape hierarchy. So, it ended up being a good thing I didn’t make more.
The vines are planted on a north facing hillside…it was a short hill, so the vines were in full sun all day. But very little direct sun on the soil kept the grapes cooler. The vines were trellised to ‘California Sprawl’, a vastly under rated approach for a number of reasons (tons per acre not being one of them), including giving the clusters some shade. Both were a big help in getting the level of ripeness I look for.
In 2015, I went up to check on them. To my surprise they were fully colored up (zin is famous for its uneven rate in coloring up the grapes), and they were delicious, at just shy of 22 brix…so I picked. Woo Hoo.
Thanks for all the details Eric!
I have two bottles of this wine. I’ve also recently bought zins from Sky and Clos Saron, both in the 13s alcohol and this general style.
It would be fun to do a lineup of the three – I may try to work that into something soon.
I enjoy good versions of the more typical ripe style of zin, but I love seeing this other face of the grape, and I learn more about zinfandel by seeing the full range of its different site and stylistic possibilities.
[I’m speaking of this Ladd as mostly a zin under another name – but Eric can clarify if there is more or less to that than I think.]
My Primitivo is much more red fruited, almost in a Pinot-ish sort of way, than the Sky and Clos Saron Zins, and my Zin, will be. Inserting my 15 Avio Vineyard Foothills Zin would be interesting in that flight I think, if you have one.
Giving my Zin sufficient air ahead of time would be important tho. A couple of hours ahead, pour into a 2+ cup pyrex measuring cup (half full so it’s easy to pour back) and pour back into the bottle. Then do that again. There are lots of other ways to do this of course, but I find this to be effective, and quick/easy to do (& less to wash up). That’ll get it past any reductive elements, and open up the vineyard terrior side that the temporary primary elements can hide.
Well whaddya know, I have a few of those too. I’ll try to find an occasion for that.