We’re the only online wine merchants to be showcasing today’s winery-only Ravenswood Winery 2013 “ICON” Sonoma County Red Wine. You can buy this wine at the winery, but you’d have to travel to Sonoma - and pay full price. The winery loves us so much that we’ve been granted exclusive access for our Operatives.

It is as iconic as its name implies, this brooding wine is black as the night sky in the glass. The nose is approachable and intriguing with a perplexing blend of aromas including lavender, violets, roses, raspberry, blueberry, and coconut. It synthesizes the fruit and the earth components with equal parts pomegranate, sour cherry, plum and volcanic rocks, terracotta, and red beet. Complex and irresistible. It’s just delectable dark fruit that unfolds in layers as the wine evolves on the palate moving towards the finish. For such a complex wine, you need a complex meal. Lamb shank spiced with coriander and cumin, cooled with a mint chutney will do the trick.

This blend of 33% Zinfandel, 33% Petite Sirah, 26% Carignane, and 8% Alicante will blow you away!

Agent Red once asked Ravenswood’s winemaker, Joel Peterson what his winemaking philosophy was. His answer: “Wines should reflect the flavors of the places that they were grown. Wine should taste like fruit, not oak. Wine should be balanced, rich, and complex and interesting. The best wines are the ones that develop well with age.”

“To that end, we attempt to let each vineyard express its optimal character by using winemaking techniques and careful attention to detail that dwells on each vineyard’s particular strengths. Our mantra is “no wimpy wines”, meaning that we want each wine we have to exhibit strength of character, not merely power.”

Thanks, Joel. We love you.

Here’s what the wine press has to say.

91 points - Virginie Boone, Wine Enthusiast - “A twisted, youthful nod to Sonoma County’s past, this liquid tribute holds 33% Zinfandel and 33% Petite Sirah plus smaller amounts of Carignane and Alicante Bouschet. Violet and lavender aromas come atop big, leathery, syrupy black fruit with a sizable presence of grip. In the end, there’s harmony and understanding, May 1, 2016”