Outstanding Zinfandel drinking at its peak. Those looking for huge fruit and high alcohol need to move along. This is structured, old-school zin at its finest. Savory red fruit, spice, and LOADS of acidity. Blind, you might be thinking Rhone vs. Zinfandel. Classic Frog’s Leap goodness to the 9th degree. Wish I had a ton of this in my cellar. @Robert.A.Jr , you’d dig it the most buddy! 
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They make some nice Zins. Don’t think I’ve had that one.
-Al
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My first time with this one as well! Glad they bottled it separately. Really impressive stuff
Almost bought some Frog’s Leap Zin today, guess I should have.
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Really good zin at a reasonable price! But this Gonzales/Single Vineyard definitely kicks it up a notch! Highly recommend if you come across it!
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Thank you Rich,
Huge fan of Frog’s Leap, but have only had a few vintages of basic Zin, love the Cabs as amazing values. I will have to look for single vineyard Zins, did not even know they made them.
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Wow, never even heard of this vineyard! And since it has a Latino name, I hope it showcased some tobacco. Love me some tobacco in my mature Zins!
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Really glad this is showing well, thank you for posting the note! Gonzales is always the most savory and elegant of the three Zin vineyards that we farm. It’s on a wedge of gravel and tufa that sits between the river and the Silverado trail about a half mile south of the Pope Street bridge.
It’s one of my favorite places, though it’s also a bit of a heartbreaker. The 2014 was the most recent SV selection from there, as starting that fall the vineyard began to be decimated by Pierce’s Disease. I’ve gradually replanted about 75% of the vines since then, and 2024 gave us the first quasi-normal yield since the '14. Very hopeful for more SV bottlings in the future.
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Thanks for the context and education Rory! 'Savory and elegant ’ is a PERFECT description of this wine. WAY better than my half-assed attempt, ha!
That said, how incredibly sad about the disease in the vineyard! Excuse my ignorance but are you able to explain what Pierce’s disease does to the vines? I could Google/Chat of course, but since you (unfortunately) have first-hand experience, i figured id ask you first
Thanks again for the response @Rory_Williams !
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Of course! PD (as it’s called) is caused by a bacteria that is transmitted by sap-sucking insects living in native vegetation. It’s one of the nastier things we deal with, as it is usually fatal, and can kill a full-grown, healthy vine in just 1 year from the point of initial infection. It’s extremely frustrating to deal with. Gonzales is surrounded by native vegetation on all sides so it got slammed, though I’m happy to say that it has largely recovered.
Until a couple of years ago there was no post-infection treatment for it, and the treatment that’s available now is very expensive ($3k/acre). PD has been around in CA since the early 1900s, and tends to come in waves; the last wave in Napa was in 2014-17. All growers in CA pay an assessment on the value of their crop that supports research to combat PD.
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Wow, super interesting Rory! Thank you for the detailed explanation - really appreciate it!
And sending positive thoughts to you/Gonzales vineyard!