A joint venture effort of Lagier Meredith and Pott.
If I understood this correctly, the grapes source from an old vine Zin vineyard owned by Cuvaison up on Mt. Veeder. 200+ bottles made?
15.5% alcohol.
A clear medium ruby red. Lighter than I expected. Aromas of flowers and red and black fruit.
On the palate, intense rasberry, blackberry and herbal flavors. Very well balanced with a bit of a tannic backbone. This one has more years to live. Civilized and suave, not a monster zin by any measure. Lingering aftertaste.
This reminds me more of a feminine Scherrer zin than a muscular Carlisle, Outpost or Turley, but with more black fruit than Scherrer. Really very, very good.
I’m a big fan of Carole Meredith and was fascinated to try this.
This is not only a cool wine, it is an extremely cool Zinfandel (the coolest of all wine varieties).
You lovers of Zinfandel (or cool) - if you want some of this call Carole at 707-253-0653.
Great note. I read the title and thought, “I know this wine, but where from?” Then I remembered hearing about it on a Graperadio podcast. As someone aching over wine names, I think Chester’s Anvil is excellent.
Really glad you enjoyed the Chester’s Anvil! As you say, it’s not your typical modern-day Zin. Aaron Pott, our partner in this venture (and very good friend) calls it “a Zin for Burgundy lovers”.
One point about the vineyard source. The fruit didn’t come from the Cuvaison vineyard. Cuvaison bought that vineyard from the Brandlin family a few years back but Chester Brandlin kept a piece and has some Zin on it. That’s where we got the fruit.
Yes, there will be more Chester’s Anvil. No 08, but we’re going to make an 09. (I wish we could have had the 08 fruit, but I think it ended up on eBay or something. Somewhat of a mystery to us . . . )
We’ll release the 07 Syrah on September 15 (if I can get my act together in time).
Steve and I spent a brilliant day dropping fruit in the vineyard and chatting with the colorful Chester himself. Among the many stories that he shared with us one in particular stuck with me. Chester said that the 1936 winner of the Pulitzer prize for his novel “The Honey in the Horn” lived in our house Chateauneuf du Pott. A man named Harold L. Davis who bought our property with the royalties from his book sales as well as a fancy car with his initials monogramed on the door. This fact we already new. What we didn’t know was that his wife was stolen from him by Chester’s super suave brother Richard!
Chester’s Anvil is a great adventure with great friends and it already has more stories than I can count.
The parcel is planted to mostly Zinfandel but there is a little Mourvedre as well. In 2007 we didn’t harvest the Mourvedre vines but this year I think we should pick them a little later and see if they work in a blend.
As my wife Claire says, “get hammered on Chester’s Anvil”.
-Aaron
My shipment arrived last week with my case of LM, and I waited as long as I could, but with burgers going on the grill and some Monday night football coming up (and a trip to Napa next week with a visit to Steve and Carole and Aaron), I had to pop one. Mike’s notes are right on, except that I wouldn’t describe it as feminine at all. It’s sort of like Steve-big, aromatic, rich, and a little funky. Popped and poured, so maybe it will get a little more feminine with some air. The raspberry really jumps out of the glass. Sort of southern Rhonish in style like maybe it has a little Mouvedre. No heat, really nice structure and acidity. Should have bought more…
Great initial effort, but I don’t know what else I would have expected.