Thinking about a wine to pair with last night’s lasagna, I decided on a Zinfandel. At first I was going to select one of my accidental Zins, however since I had only two bottles left, I opted for a 2006 Zinfandel from Chiarito Vineyard. Someone gave us a bottle of this wine on our writing trip to wineries in Mendocino County, California. We were not able to visit Chiarito Vineyard. The wine had an intense aroma of cherries and spice. The cherries and spices continued on the taste and finish. There were mild tannins and the wine matched well with the lasagna.

Chiarito Vineyard is an artisan winery; only 400 cases of the 2006 Zinfandel were produced. The vineyard is located south of Talmage and east of Ukiah. The two-acre vineyard was planted almost twenty years ago. John Chiarito, winemaker, follows the practices of “everything is done by hand.” This includes the vineyard where, according to their website, John plows his vineyard and follows dry farming techniques.

Cheers,
Terry