THE VINEYARD: Ponzo Vineyard is located just south of Healdsburg between Old Redwood Highway and the Russian River. It was planted in the early 1920’s with a couple of old blocks planted even earlier, and it’s predominately Zin with some blocks interplanted with Carignane and Petite Sirah vines.

WINEMAKING: The grapes were harvested by hand the early morning of September 14th, 2016. Technically a ¬eld blend all three varieties were harvested and weighted separately but blended and fermented together. The fruit was handled in the gentlest way possible, hand sorted and fermented in small open top fermenters with minimum tree hand punch-downs per day. As usual, the most effort was in extracting as much of the beautiful fruity aromas without the harsh tannins. The malolactic fermentation was done in barrels. The wine was aged in 21% new French oak, the rest in older other European oak barrels for about 16 months.

WINEMAKER’S TASTING NOTES: This wine is deep ruby in color, with purple at the heart of the wine glass. Ponzo Vineyard had a distinct aromatic character that comes through clear as a bell with scents of wild owers, Morello cherries, ripe plums and a suggestion of black tea with cream. The first sip has a lively acidity that quickly mellows in your mouth to disclose appetizing plum and dark cherry avors accented with wild berries, toasty pie crust, and an evenly interlaced tannin and black pepper ¬nish. A mouthwatering melting quality makes each successive mouthful more velvety and delicious. This wine is fun to explore since it has so many layers of complexity.∙