Life hack: Cut an onion in half and then put it in the freezer for 15 minutes before cutting the rest. This way you don’t cry before your dinner party even starts.

Unfortunately, we have no life hack if you miss out on this. So, our advice? Buy this epic Cabernet Sauvignon from a PRIZED Alexander Valley single vineyard before it sells out. It drinks WAY above the $22 price tag you’ll get it for. Which makes sense since it’s $74 at the winery.

This beauty comes from one of the industry’s hardest-working brother and sister teams with a winemaking lineage that goes way baaaaack.

Zialena is the family legacy of brother & sister team Mark & Lisa Mazzoni whose father and grandfather have been mainstays in the Sonoma County wine industry for decades. Giuseppe Mazzoni, the pair’s great-grandfather settled in Alexander Valley in 1897 and quickly got to providing the area with the best jug wine money could buy, “the Mazzoni Special.”

The family has progressed by leaps and bounds since then. Fast forward to 2013 when the pair decided to finally produce a brand with the family story. They spent years providing great fruit to some of the best names of the neighborhood (think Jordan, Jackson Family, and Alexander Valley Vineyards!) Until they started keeping some of the best lots for themselves.

Mark Mazzoni had already made wine with quite the resume of big hitters. Starting at Kenwood and working through St Francis Winery, he got the preverbal Midas touch from Phillipe Melka to lead winemaking efforts at Flanagan Winery in Bennett Valley. He also managed vineyards for names like Rodney Strong, Littorai, and winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown so you know the standards are HIGH. His ability to showcase the Old World methods with New World flair is evident in each bottle.

You might think it’s a Grand Cru Bordeaux if you tasted it blind. This is the second vintage to use the concrete open-top fermenters unique to Zialena’s style. Dripping with complexity, this shows dried bay leaf and deep dark broody fruit on the nose. Diving into the palate, you find a mélange of mixed berries, plums, and subtle touches of wet gravel.

Absolutely gorgeous and worth waaaaaay more than we’re charging today.

This is a “case me” wine if I ever saw one.

91 Points – Owen Bargreen

“Dark ruby center, with crimson staining tears in the glass. The nose starts off with warm blackcurrant jam, blackberry, black plum, and wild resinous herbs. The backdrop offers raw chocolate, gravelly soil, and vanilla pod. Rich and full on the palate, with excellent density and dusty rock character that gives away its Alexander Valley origins. Long, full, and polished, there is a LOT of Cabernet Sauvignon in the glass here! Drink now-2035.”