This Zinfandel was made from grapes sourced from Sonoma County. It was an accident that it was bottled. In November of 2009, Kathy and I were helping to break down the basket press at Vint Hill Craft Winery. The winemaker had just pressed Zinfandel. We noticed that the pomace near the bottom of the press was rather moist. Since we were experimenting making jelly from pomace, we captured about six gallons of the pomace. After straining it at home we had a bit more than a gallon of wine, way too much to make into jelly. So I put it into a gallon jug and let it settle until August of this year when it was bottled. Ending up with a wine instead of a jelly was an accident.

After tasting it, I discovered the Zin sin. During the winter, I used heavy toasted French oak spirals in the wine. I left the French oak spirals in the wine too long; it wasn’t noticed at the time. This ended up giving the wine an overriding baking spices taste.

The wine was purple with a light purple rim. Dark fruit with leather nuances were on the aroma. The taste was of dark fruit and leather. Mild tannins on the fruity finish quickly yielded to leather. The leather turned to pepper on the aftertaste.

Cheers,
Terry