1999 Zinfandel – Talmage Bench
Tasting Notes
In contrast to 1998 when we focussed on the forward fruitiness that the grapes so effortlessly gave forth, the 1999 vintage is more of a product of the wild forces of nature that shaped the season - wind, rain... the evocative voice of the land. This comes through in the wine as an uncommon complexity with notes of roasted meats, game, and hints of ripe blackberry all speaking of the late, cool season. The flavors are a celebration of the vintage with mixed berry, black pepper, and complex visceral notes all vying for attention. We feel this wine has the structure to reward a few more years (2-4) of careful cellaring so try to save some, if you can!
Facts
- Clone: Old Dry Creek scionwood, origin unknown; about 45 year old plantings
- Yeast/ML: Initial wild yeast followed by a commercially-prepared Burgundy isolate midway through the native fermentation; followed by native ML in barrel
- Cooperage: Absolutely no new French oak was used in the production of this wine, although it was all barrel-aged for 10 months. We did, however, fool around with 2 new French-coopered American oak barrels from the highly regarded Mendocino Cooperage.
- Harvest: Late October to November 7th (really, really late!)
- Yield: 2.9 tons/acre average
- Vineyard locations: Talmage Bench, overlooking the Russian River North of the town of Ukiah in Mendocino County
- Vineyard terroir: Hot Summer days (this year only warm) and cold nights make this site perfect for Zinfandel. The soil is a cobbled benchland loam with ancient sedimentary and gravel deposits from the Russian River, now some 3 miles distant from its once active course. Terrific drainage and the deep ex-ploratory nature of the St. George rootstock give the vines the water, in perfect measure, needed to maintain a great natural tannin/acid balance and long hang-time for late flavor development.
- Plantings: Generally 5x8 spacing on St. George rootstock, with row orientation following the flow of the Russian River and its morning/afternoon breezes
- Winemaking: The ferments took off wild and ferocious. The late picking dates meant the vineyard saw two rains before picking, washing off many of the Saccharomyces yeast and necessitating a reinoculation of this strain midway into fermentation. The result is a more wild and gamy wine, perfectly expressing the cool growing season and late pick. We chose to go with the complexity that this vintage's flora provided us and allow the terroir to speak by not using any new French oak. Wines were periodically stirred to help to tame the savageness of the wild ferment character and a portion of the barrels were racked in January rather than being left on the lees until bottling, to help integrate the late-season tannin structure and the gamy notes.
Final bottling technical information
- pH: 3.44
- TA: 6.5 g/L
- 14.2% alcohol
- Residual sugar: 0.8 g/L (dry)
Bottled unfined and unfiltered in August 2000; 275 cases produced