2020 McGarraugh Zinfandel

Jon on this wine: “This is a tiny angry vineyard I farm myself with absolutely minimal inputs, on the southern end of the Alexander Valley. The Vineyard is a 2-acre northwest-facing bowl planted to about 80 percent of middle-aged Zinfandel vines. They are converting from double cordon to something more resembling bush trained to allow a more balanced canopy.”

The bowl shape causes the vineyard to ripen unevenly, which translates into blazing raspberry acidity. A friendly, chill-able expression of Zinfandel, less ponderous, more joyous!”

2020: “This year, a couple of things went against us, beyond the usual 2020 hat trick of two fires and a pandemic. A deer break-in during bud break cut the yields in half. But the fruit that remained was true to form for this site, bright, raspberry, mouth-watering limpid,” Jon says. Destemmed, six months in old oak, no fining or filtration, 20 ppm of SO2 at bottling.

• Area: United States, California, Mendocino,
• Grapes: 100% Zinfandel