About This Wine:

Black raspberry and spice leap from the glass, and the palate expands with layers of dark fruits and a hint of sweet herb. The wine is at once elegant and concentrated, offering round, full flavors on the palate that evolve into a long, smooth finish. Balanced, rich, and eminently enjoyable, this is an exceptional expression of Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel.

The Vintage: This wine is a blend of Grist Vineyard as well as Dry Creek Valley floor fruit. Our goal is to produce a wine that speaks to the qualities that define the Dry Creek Valley appellation, while retaining the distinctive elements the Grist Vineyard delivers. The 2007 vintage was among the finest we have seen in the hills above the Dry Creek Valley, offering a balance of ripeness, acidity, and flavor that is rare. Spring entered gently, with bud break and flowering occurring as expected. The summer proved to be a mild one, with consistently warm days and cool nights, promoting even ripening in the clusters. Some leaf pulling and crop thinning were needed, but in general, the vineyards took care of themselves that year. We saw the first wild pig eating fruit early on October 3, and had the picking crew in the vineyards by the fifth to bring the fruit in.

Winemaking: When the fruit arrived at the winery, we crushed and destemmed the bunches, leaving a significant amount of whole berries in the must. The fruit was cold soaked for 2 days before inoculation for fermentation. Temperatures were controlled to extend the length of the fermentation, and regular punchdowns were conducted to promote extraction of color and flavor. After 18 days, the must was transferred to a basket press for a gentle pressing into a combination of French, Hungarian, and American oak barrels.

The Grist Vineyard: The soil is red, volcanic and rugged, the growing season unusually long here. The location of Bradford Mountain in the Dry Creek Valley provides the wines we produce with the characteristics that are the mark of this famous appellation: sweet herbs, tar, plums and aromatic, oriental-like spice.

About The Wines:

There is a detectable mountain influence in these wines, while at the same time a tempering from the ocean, permitted by the site’s elevation. The soil is red, volcanic, and rugged, and the growing season unusually long here. While Bradford Mountain frequently becomes its own weather-station, often hosting weather patterns very different from those on the valley floor, it has enough inherent Dry Creek-ness to give Zinfandel and Syrah the mark of this renowned appellation: sweet herbs, tar, and aromatic, oriental-like spice.

About The Winery:

Bradford Mountain wines were born out of the Hambrecht family’s belief that there was something beguilingly distinct about the fruit from their Dry Creek Valley vineyards. Planted on a hilltop plateau 1100 feet above the valley floor, the vines produce a low-yielding crop (2 ¼ tons per acre) of intensely flavored grapes with an irresistible wild, brambly flair. Once sold to some of California’s most celebrated wineries, the fruit deserved to be bottled independently, and given the opportunity to tell the story of this terroir.

In 1998, ground was broken to build the Bradford Mountain Winery. A small, simple building was erected. Money was spared on architecture, and spent prudently on the best equipment available for boutique-scale winemaking: square, jacketed, open-topped tanks, a pneumatic overhead punch-down system and 168 carefully chosen barrels. The first fruit, 56 tons, was crushed in October 1998. Our Viticulture team has experimented widely with vinification and viticulture to best augment the uniqueness of the site. The very essence of the wines from Bradford Mountain is merely a reflection of the health and vigor of the vineyards. Thus we have developed an organic viticulture program to produce the finest fruit possible. After much tasting and a careful culling, the first vintage produced 1837 cases of wine. The Winery continues to evolve and develop small lots of artisan wines.

There is both a detectable mountain influence, as well as a tempering effect from the Pacific Ocean only 15 miles to the west. The soil is red, volcanic and rugged, the growing season unusually long. The location of Bradford Mountain in the Dry Creek Valley provides the wines with the characteristics that are the mark of this famous appellation: sweet herbs, tar, plums and aromatic, Asian-like spice. However, due to the elevation from the valley floor, Bradford Mountain is definitely host to its own mesoclimate, often seeing weather patterns very different from those in the valley below, thus creating a much lower yielding yet intensely flavorful crop.

Technical Analysis:

Appellation: Dry Creek Valley

Varietals: 100% Zinfandel

Vineyards: Grist Vineyard – blocks 2, 4, 7; and valley fruit

Barrel Aging: 14 months in French, Hungarian, and
American oak barrels; 40% new oak

Alcohol: 14.6%