Maple Zin for $20? Bazinga!

Yep, that same legendary site powering Zins by Ridge, Wilson, Pezzi King, Carol Shelton, Gary Ferrell, Bella, and Armida… Hard to fathom. But there’s a paradigm shift in the air today.

Per Forbes, “Overshine is showing drinkers something new: that the best group projects might just taste better than going solo.”

Introducing the Overshine Collective! The result when a former Google executive falls in love with wine and passionately sets out to help small wineries with a shared vision to outshine, survive, and thrive. It began with the purchase of Armida Winery in 2023 to create Overshine.

The hero behind this pioneering concept, at least for Sonoma, is David Drummond. Eric Asimov of The New York Times points out that “Aside from assembling a group of wine producers compatible to his own tastes - lower-alcohol, higher-acid wines made with grape varieties often outside the mainstream - Mr. Drummond said he saw this as a good investment opportunity.”

He then chose Sam Bilbro as his chief winemaker for the project. Sam’s a Wine Enthusiast 40 Under 40 Tastemaker, and owner the culty, somm-darling brand Idlewild. He believes that “as a small winery, it’s easy to maintain your identity and individualism, but you often miss out on the economies of scale. With the Collective, we all stand to benefit from both sides of the coin while gaining the joy of working together.”

Asimov continues the story, “Mr. Bilbro had gotten to a point in 2024 where he felt he no longer had the resources to continue growing Idlewild, which specializes in wine made from northwestern Italian grapes like Barbera, Dolcetto, Freisa, and Arneis. Last year, he sold Idlewild to Mr. Drummond, an arrangement in which Mr. Bilbro became the managing partner for all three of Mr. Drummond’s brands, Idlewild, Overshine, and Comunità. Even so, he said, it didn’t feel like the right size or fit. Both he and Mr. Drummond wanted the more collaborative feel of a collective.”

And Overshine was born…

This is what great Dry Creek Zinfandel is all about. Born from heritage, head-trained vines, it’s sleek and balanced. With beautifully pure, focused, and complex notes of red cherry, freshly tilled earth, and toasty vanilla spice. The flavors build richness and depth on a finish that just won’t quit. Great purity of fruit, thanks to impeccable minimal intervention winemaking.

While press is scarce for this mighty little initiative, especially with the 2022 vintage as there is none, the next vintage got straight 90-95 points from Vinous. So, the “secret” is getting out.

We thus say jump on these before prices go up, and before finding them gets difficult.