Vineyard Notes: Stampede Vineyard, in the heart of Lodi’s Clements Hills sub-AVA, is a Historic Vineyard Society-certified historic vineyard, with most of its vines planted in the 1920’s. It is primarily own-rooted Zinfandel, with several other varieties intermixed in the vineyard (see above), planted in very finely decomposed granite soils on what was once the southern bank of the Mokelumne River. It is farmed by Jeff Perlagos (who also farms the Cherryhouse Zinfandel Vineyard). It is farmed organically & rarely needs any irrigation.

Cellar Notes: After working with this fruit in 2020 & 2022, we were able to harvest just 2 tons of fruit, half of which we whole-cluster foot-treaded in a bin. The remaining half was destemmed on top of the whole clusters. We made no additions for fermentation, with the intention of making this a no-intervention wine. The native fermentation was completed in 10 days, then the wine was pressed to tank, settled & racked to neutral oak barrels. It remained in barrel, with regular topping, until April, when it was racked to tank, settled, and bottled unfiltered.

Tasting Notes:  Lots of complexity on the nose, with black plum & blackberries, a melange of herbs - including mint & parsley - dried flowers, & cedar & mocha on the finish. It is nicely structured in the palate, with good acidity, berries, spice & just enough fine tannic activity to last on the tongue.

Label: The historic Stampede Vineyard sits next to Clements Rodeo so our label has to embody those friendly rodeo vibes.

Pair With: Pasta bolognese, Stuffed eggplant, Grilled lamb