TN: 1968 Mayacamas Late Harvest Zinfandel. The Best Wine I've Ever Opened

WINE TALK
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As those of you who have suffered through any of my past tasting notes (sorry!) are probably aware, I’m a pretty big zinfandel fan. I’ve had the pleasure of drinking quite a few bottles across many of the top producers and multiple vintages. You might have also noticed that I enjoy all different types of wines across many regions, and like to think that I have a fairly ‘diverse’ palate (except for Burgundy…but that’s neither here nor there :wink:). Hands down, the 1968 Mayacamas Late Harvest Zinfandel is the best wine I’ve ever tasted in my life. Not the best zinfandel (although it certainly takes that honor), the best wine. Period.

I opened my first bottle of this unicorn 11 years ago to celebrate a major milestone in my professional career. It was perfect. The wine. The occasion. The setting. Everything. Ever since I’ve been on a mission to add bottles to my cellar whenever I am lucky enough to come across them, and they are ‘reasonably’ priced (Again, there are very few of these legends left and the prices are typically……not cheap). My team and I just finalized a huge new partnership that we’ve been working on for over a year, so there was zero doubt in my mind which wine I was going to open in order to celebrate the win.

This bottle, once again, was perfect. The cork was in excellent shape, the color incredible, and the bouquet literally exploded from the glass at pnp with blue fruits and baking spices. In the mouth, it was staggering. Deep, dark, blue and black fruits, cinnamon, and a never-ending finish of violets and incense. Full of fruit, to the point where you would NEVER guess it was 57 years old, but also unbelievably balanced. Each sip was better than the last and left me wanting to take another, while also hoping that the bottle would somehow last forever (You all know what I’m talking about).

This….is why I love wine. Yes, the liquid itself was absolutely delicious. But it represents, to me, what this ‘hobby’ is all about. Joy, passion, collaboration, determination, appreciation, hard work, wins/losses, friendship, celebration, and sharing. A truly perfect evening, and I’m feeling incredibly fortunate to have the privilege to be here right now, drinking this incredible bottle, and sharing my (admittedly WAY too long) story on the best wine that I’ve ever opened. Cheers and here’s to all of you and your ‘perfect’ stories!

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And for those of you who dig wine history like I do, here’s a breakdown of the wine from Chat GPT after some prompting based on what i knew about it :cheers:

The 1968 Mayacamas Vineyards Late Harvest Zinfandel holds a unique place in California wine history, not only for its exceptional character but also for the serendipitous circumstances that led to its creation.

A Fortuitous Creation

In 1968, shortly after Bob and Elinor Travers acquired Mayacamas Vineyards, the winery faced an unexpected challenge. Their fermentation tanks were occupied with Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot, leaving no room for the ripening Zinfandel grapes. As a result, the Zinfandel was left on the vine longer than usual, reaching an unusually high sugar level of 30° Brix (compared to the typical 22–23° Brix for red wines). Despite expectations, the grapes fermented to dryness, producing a robust, non-fortified wine with an alcohol content exceeding 17%.

Regulatory Hurdles and Market Impact

The unprecedented alcohol level raised concerns with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (BATF), which initially questioned the legality of selling such a potent, unfortified wine. However, Julius Jacobs, head of the San Francisco Wine Institute, was so impressed by the wine that he persuaded the BATF to approve its sale. Upon release, the wine resonated with consumers transitioning from hard liquor, sparking a trend of dry “late-harvest” Zinfandels. This surge in popularity temporarily elevated Zinfandel grapes above Cabernet Sauvignon in value and influenced wineries like Sutter Home to focus on Zinfandel production.

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What an awesome note and post. Congrats on the deal and glad the wine showed well for you!!!

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Thanks Rohit! Really appreciate it :cheers:

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Beautiful color on that wine Rich! Great cork and wonderful story. Thank you for sharing. My aha moment was a 1974 Sutter Home Deaver Ranch drunk around 2008. Surprisingly sound and utterly delicious. Great bottles indeed!

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Thanks for the write up, amazing.

I feel lucky to have a place like this where people get what wine is all about, thanks again.

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Thanks Mark!

And love that story on the 74 Sutter Home! Was it by chance the Special Selection? Hoping so as i actually have a 3L of that one in the cellar!

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And i feel lucky that i can share a super long story like that one and people like yourself understand and appreciate it. An awesome community here for sure :cheers:

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Very cool! Awesome note and story as always!

How many of those gems do you have left? When do you think you will open the next one? After an experience like that, who wouldnt want another reason to open another one up

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Yes indeed! A Special Selection. I have a Magnum of 1970 SS Deaver!

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Fantastic post and experience, Rich! And congrats on that big new deal, very cool! Wonderful producer. I had the 68 Cab a few years ago, it was excellent. Would love to try that Zin, even with that crazy ABV!

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Thanks James!

And great question! i dont want to jinx it after my most recent…errr…mishaps with Zachy’s and UPS. But assuming my most recent score gets delivered as planned this fall, ill be lucky enough to have a total of 5 bottles in the cellar!

And keeping with tradition, ill open the next one after a huge business accomplishment :cheers:

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Yasssss! Love it!! Well if you have any plans to visit AZ, I’d be more than happy to open the 3L with you :cheers:

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Ha ha! Im telling you my man, even with the wild 17% abv (which you’d swear was a misprint based on how balanced and well it drinks) …you’d love this wine!

And thanks brother! Really appreciate it! :cheers:

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Such a great story and note - thanks for sharing! It’s really magic when the wine meets the milestone elevates the moment.

And congrats on the deal!

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I couldn’t agree more Joe - perfectly said!!

And thank you :wink:

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Awesome wine Rich!
I found a couple other times Travers talked about that wine -

"I don’t know if I’d put it quite in the same class as cabernet and Chardonnay in California.
the first winemaker in California to produce a Zinfandel labeled “late harvest. And it got us a wildly wonderful amount of free publicity; it was at. I did that in 1968, the first year I came here. You get the idea, especially as a new winemaker?
imbled across it completely; 1968 was a year when things ripened early, weather was warm during the ripening period, and we knew those ves were ready to pick but told the grower to hold off for two or three because we were busy with other grapes. We probably misjudged thesugar in our field tests, which is easy to do anyway. It was very warm in those intervening days and they got a lot riper. Zinfandel also is a grape which tends to raisin. You get dehydrated berries, partially raisined, and they go into the fermenting tank with their concentrated sugar. They don’t break down right away so you don’t get an accurate sugar reading at any one point. But obviously, the sugar had to be in the mid-30s since the alcohol turned out to be 17 percent.”

"Shortly after my initial visit to Ridge Vineyards in spring 1986, I made my way to the top of Lokoya Road, in Napa’s Mayacamas Mountains, to find Bob Travers and his Mayacamas Vineyards. I wanted to hear his story of how he got the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) to approve his 17 percent alcohol, late-picked dry Zinfandel as a table wine. This was necessary for him, said Travers, because Zinfandel had low priority at Mayacamas, so more often than not, the Zinfandel came in over-ripe. Yet Travers felt that his 17 percent alcohol Zinfandels should be included in the table wine category, since they had fermented dry, and were not fortified.
“At that time (the late 1960s),” said Travers, "to be classified as a table wine, wine had to be under 14.1 percent alcohol. Wines 14.1 percent and over were no longer table wines, according to ATF. And the tax category quadrupled, although it was still not a huge increase. So not only did you have to pay four times the alcohol tax, you were supposed to fortify these dry wines with 100-proof alcohol, and label them as dessert wines.
"The first time I applied (it was for my 1968 Napa Valley Late Harvest), ATF told me to fortify it and label it either Sherry or Port. Well, I didn’t want to do either, so I resubmitted my application. This went on for the two or so years that the wine was ageing. Then about the time I needed to bottle it, Julius Jacobs from The Wine Institute was going to Washington, and said he had a contact, and would see what he could do.
Shortly after that, ATF called to say it was okay just this once to sell the 17.5 percent wine as Zinfandel table wine, with the alcohol percent stated.
"So that was the first time a wine over 14.1 percent was identified by its varietal name, and classified as a table wine. That is, I could call it Zinfandel, not Sherry or Port. However, I didn’t want to confuse my customers unnecessarily, so along with stating the alcohol percent on the label, I also named it ‘Late Harvest Zinfandel’ I was the first to use that term.
“Of course, there was no way ATF could limit its permission to 'just this once. The cat was out of the bag, so to speak, and the next year, Ridge released an over-17 percent alcohol 1966 vintage called 'Zinfandel Essence? In 1997, however, Bennion went with my ‘Late Harvest’ term.”

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Great note and it reminds me of some of the Ridge Essence wines I’ve had. So far under the radar but so special. Cheers

Edit: just saw post above referencing the same😄

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Awesome note and post!! Congratulations on the yearlong pursuit and deal. Cheers to exceeding expectations :wine_glass:

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