“Be aware: Considering the prestige of Heidi Barrett, along with Lamborn’s modest production, these wines can be difficult locate.” – Saveur

Hot diggity dog! It’s time, people…

Freshly landed and getting ANY from the 20 or so barrels made was a feat of its own. LAMBORN, baby! Unlikely to appear in even your most well-connected wine shops, East to West - and surely not at this price! Under $30??? Fly like an eagle and snag some fast because sellout is on the menu today.

Made by none other than the mother-daughter super tag team, Heidi and Chelsea Barrett. As far as Heidi goes, we probably don’t have to drop Screaming Eagle, but we will. And Dalla Valle, Kenzo, Grace Family, Revana, Paradigm, and many others? We won’t go on and on about her prolific past. Chelsea not only works with her on La Sirena and Barrett & Barrett (with her dad, Bo of Chateau Montelena), but she is also at the helm of Materra, Au Sommet, Amuse Bouche, and more. I’m sure we forgot a whole bunch of others, but you get the drift. What a ROYAL wine family!

Instead, let’s laser in on this Zinfandel from one of her passion projects – Lamborn Family. If you know, you know. When a Barrett is passionate about something, it shows. All Lamborn wines are wonderful, but the Zins? They’re on another level. Plus, Heidi only makes Zin for Paradigm, so these wines are extra precious if only for that reason!

Dry Creek is ground zero for great Zinfandel (Ridge, Rafanelli, Wilson!) and Somers Ranch powers this bad boy. This impeccably farmed vineyard was one of the first to be planted with the Heritage Clone of Zinfandel, and as they approach 30 years old, the quality is just going up, up, up!

Fresh and ripe, it’s jammed and packed much like my carry-on suitcase on a two-week vacation. With fruit, not clothing. So many wild blueberries, red plums, ripe raspberries, and Bing cherries. And spices, and a mélange of other mouthwatering flavors. Black licorice? Got it. 70% dark chocolate? In there. Or maybe it’s 68%, who knows. Point is, a LOT is going on here for a Zin, and it remains incredibly fresh.

You’re not gonna find any ratings for this micro-production gem, but it made it to a “7 Best Wines to Pair With Steak” list on Robb Report, where they wrote “This 100 percent Zinfandel is made from fruit grown in a single vineyard at Somers Ranch in Sonoma’s Dry Creek Valley. Aged in 25 percent new American oak for 18 months before bottling, it is garnet-purple in the glass and has enticing aromas of red raspberry, Bing cherry, and red plum. Flavors of blueberry, black plum, dark chocolate, and a touch of black licorice are wrapped in velvety tannins that dissipate into a finish that goes on and on.”

You know we love our Zin around here, and when this came through, you better believe we plucked a few cases for ourselves.

Are you still here? Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’… fly eagle fly!