Healdsburg Ranches
2009 North Coast Zinfandel
Zinfandel
California
Mission Briefing
Howdy, Partner!
We’ve had the great fortune, these last five years, to get to know the team behind today’s budget-friendly 2009 Healdsburg Ranches Zinfandel. Credited with producing some of our favorite wine from Bradford Mountain, Turett-Hurst and VML, this very talented team makes wines for all budgets. Always, the wines deliver an exceptional drinking experience and exceptional value.
Today’s Zinfandel shows off wonderful dark fruit and spice, in a package that exceeds expectations - given the low price of the wine. Decant this wine for 20 minutes or more and you’ll be rewarded with a softer feel and more authentic fruit flavors. Aromatically, this wine presents dark spice and earth, with plenty of dark fruit. These are reflected on the palate, as well.
Pair this easy-drinking wine with your favorite winter fare. We recommend that you enjoy the palate cleansing qualities of this delicious wine between bites of baby back ribs with your favorite tangy barbecue sauce.
This is a recommended, well-priced, limited supply wine - so be sure to act quickly.
Tasting Profile
| Look: | Medium garnet hues with a slightly darker heart. After spinning the wine, two levels of branching, fast moving, tightly spaced legs move swiftly down the glass. |
|---|---|
| Smell: | Complex and sweet, leading with black cherry, black plum, dried orange peel that gives way to dark chocolate, black tea leaf and sweet brown spice. |
| Taste: | Dark red berries, stewed plum, dusty bramble, out in front. As the wine breathes, it also reveals Alaskan blueberry, braised mission fig and dried blood orange peel. |
| Finish: | A long and lingering finish. Soft and smooth with fruits that fade very gradually, culminating in a tart, smoky sweetness. |
| Pairing: |
What the Winery Says
Our wines are produced from great vineyard sources using time-honored techniques (with a little modern technology thrown in), and our hope is that you will taste in them what we tasted back then. Wines true to their variety and place of origin, balanced, smooth, easy to drink, and hard to forget. We hope you enjoy them.
Tasting Notes
Here’s a good, fruity Zinfandel to drink with your barbecue, and the everyday price is right! Its dry and tart in berries, cherries, and spices with zin’s wild briary personality.
Alcohol
14.8%
Varietal
Zinfandel
Appellation
North Coast, California
About the Winery
The North Coast of California is a patchwork of microclimates suitable for nearly any agricultural pursuit. In the early days of the California wine industry Healdsburg was the center of the North Coast, a small farm town where the ranchers and farmers would come to get the tools, equipment, and supplies needed to maintain their ranches as well as themselves. It was here that they would also buy the local wines, varietally labeled, reasonably priced, and darn good.
Those of us who remember the not-so-old days still recall those local wines; lacking pretense and flash, but possessing a quality that is rare even today. Produced only a handful of decades ago from vineyards all over the North Coast, they were continually present while we were discovering and learning about the wine business in California, and we remember them well.
The wines of Healdsburg Ranches are an homage to these wines. Our hope is that you will taste in them what we tasted back then. Wines true to their variety and place of origin, balanced, smooth, easy to drink, and hard to forget.
Winemaker Virginia Marie Lambrix
While on vacation in South Africa, Virginia Lambrix tasted her first “serious wine.” Captured always by a love of nature and the out-of-doors, she determined it was time to learn about the art of the vineyard – viticulture. Within a year, Virginia was studying horticulture and agronomy in the master’s program at the University of California, Davis, with an emphasis on viticulture and enology. Upon graduation, she worked at the Hendry Ranch in Napa, and for Concha y Toro in Chile.
In 2004, Virginia visited a biodynamic farm in Chile. It was immediately clear to her that the biodynamic principles of respecting nature and nurturing ecology within the vineyard made sense in both a scientific framework and on an intuitive level. She embraced the philosophy and made a point to study and implement its principles at every opportunity. With this knowledge, she returned to work in California for Lynmar and De Loach Vineyards, both of which are in the Russian River Valley.
Working side-by-side with winemakers Hugh Chappelle at Lynmar Estate and Greg La Follette at Deloach Vineyards, Virginia couldn’t help but follow their winemaking with interest and in 2008 she began making wine for Truett Hurst Winery. Bringing her former background in the Russian River Valley to the attention of the Truett Hurst team, she added Russian River Valley wines to the winery’s portfolio.
Today, she oversees winemaking for Truett Hurst wines in Dry Creek Valley, VML Winery in Russian River Valley, as well as the Bradford Mountain and Healdsburg Ranches brands.