Big, brawny, take-no-prisoners style ZINFANDEL!! I feel like channeling Yello …. oooh yeeahhh from Ferris Bueller’s Day off, of course.

“America’s grape” at a price that screams FREEDOM! We’re lriberating $46 off the retail price and dropping a hefty 60% OFF the release price!

MONTE ROSSO Zinfandel none the less!! A brand Operatives LOVED last year, and we got our hands on the fresh allocation. If you missed this the first time around, don’t be that silly again.

This was $75 at the winery and it’s less than $30 today. You can thank us later with a full-blown dance number in the middle of Chicago later.

Nottingham Cellars is a newer producer to Napa but not to fine wine. They’ve been around for decades and anyone who picked up a few bottles last year will remember they focus on extremely high quality, well-made wines. However, heed this warning: these wines are not for the faint of heart!

The last few vintages got great scores, but the critics haven’t even gotten their hands on this one yet!

Zinfandel is truly an original American success story. No trace exists in Europe, aside from perhaps Primitivo, but even then, the DNA is uniquely rooted in our country.

And with all varietals, the site where its grown plays a huge role in the outcome. If you want the very best Zin, there’s one spot in particular to look to. The one and only Monte Rosso Vineyard. This high elevation (1,300’) site on the Mayacamas range was planted in the 1880s and put on the map by the visionary Louis M. Martini. Today it churns out some of the absolute best examples from the likes of Biale, Carlisle, and Turley.

Add this to the list. This stuff has a deep black fruit core, with brambly, spicy blackberries, and toasted oak. Heaps of dried mixed fruits, a dusting of some wild herbs, and a wisp of cigar. It’s big, spicy, and luscious with head-spinning complexity and if you’re a big fan of high-octane reds, you’re going to LOVE it.

According to a recent Wine Spectator article, “The soil is fairly consistent throughout - a red hill soil series mix of clay and loam that is porous, drains well but has good water retention below. And being a mountain site, the grapes here deliver distinctive tannins different from the plush-styled fruit that comes off the warm valley floor. ‘Not as chunky and chewy as, say, Howell Mountain,’ says Michael Eddy, the winemaker for the Martini wines… ‘There’s brightness and firmness to the backbone and a distinct mineral note in the wines. Monte Rosso is a contrarian vineyard.’ …Among the great wines of the era, the ‘68 shows the longevity of the wines that come from this famed vineyard.”

The ‘68? Damn.

That’s it! If you aren’t drinking this with abandon for the rest of summer, we don’t know what to say…