Acorn celebrates this field blend, and even provides a really neat online map to show you just what’s going on in their vineyards.  Did you go take a look at it? You should – takes 5 seconds. I’ll wait.

Okay, did you see the other really neat fact about them and many of their field blend blocks? 1890!! Those vines are from 1890!! INSANITY!! Needless to say, they scored another deviant point in my book. You just don’t see vines this old, making wine this lovely, much anymore. They are truly far and few between. And me being somewhat of a sucker for old trees and old vines…well, let’s just say I’m planning a trip in the near future where I can go hug a couple of those old vines and thank them in person for a job well done for OVER 100 YEARS! Call me over-the-top, call me a little weird, call me sentimental – but color me happy for lovely, old vines.

The short:

1. Yes, there is an aroma not typically found in this varietal, and for me, that was pine tar. Now, stick with me. I’m not saying I felt like I was drinking pine tar. Instead, it was this lovely, light hint of it in the smell (nose) that I just found invigorating. I took a look around, and no one was around me, and I didn’t smell pine tar in the air (as if someone had perfume on – a BIG no-no at tasting events)…it was just part of the make-up of the wine. Truly delightful and quite possibly part of the terrior (or wine DNA).
2. Their label overall is fairly standard for the industry, but I like the little acorn graphic dropped in the “O” of their name. Way to utilize your own “critter”.
3. They do have a tasting room which I need to visit to see if they score another deviant point. Should you decide to go, be sure to make an appointment.
4. We’re talking about a very common varietal (Zinfandel), but we’re looking an a not-so-commonly-marketed style – field blend. Kudos to sticking to their guns and their customers’ preferences.

The judgement:

2010 Heritage Vines Zinfandel: 3+ out of 5. It was lovely, but young, and needs more time to relax. I look forward to trying it again in a couple more years, and felt fortunate to have the opportunity to try this barrel sample.
2008 Heritage Vines Zinfandel: 4 out of 5. That pine tar aroma really did it for me, but you can see a couple other notes below that made this wine just lovely in general.

The nerdy notes:

nose: fresh, light fruit, soft faint pine tar note (more so in the 2010)

taste: mild tannins (hello, 1890 vines!), nice body, plenty of raspberry and blackberry, and a lovely, long finish

P.S. A thumbs up for speaking to their sustainable farming practices. My thanks to them for helping to keep one more large plot of land in better shape for many more years of lovely wines, and happy habitat for the animals and organisms that cohabitate their vineyards.

I fall in with the “Advocates” portion … maybe even more narrow of a focus, I’m a lover of Zin. It’s a wonderful grape, with brightness or deep, dark tones and a mouthfeel from light to viscous, sugary goodness. Zin is happy to be so many things to so many people – a serious beverage coming out of cooler climate regions, or a high alcohol bottle of naughtiness ready to party with the best of the group.

I had the extreme pleasure of starting my 2012 wine tasting season by attending the 21st Annual ZAP Festival in San Francisco on Saturday, January 27th. With 204 wineries pouring over 500 Zinfandels to 8,000+ attendees over a 3-day span, you can bet there was a whole lot of happy folks around in The City. I surely was one of them.

I chose my plan of attack based on the new festival guide addition the ZAP folks added this year, called Zin Tracks. Basically, it was a short 10-page guide that sliced and diced the wineries into different, more “digestible” categories to help you decide how you were going to make your way through the day. I chose the track called Zin Blends. Let us not forget, I’m on a mission to find something different in the industry, and Zin Blends sounded like my best bet from the “tracks” identified.

After tasting through 11 of the wineries from that track, plus a host of other wineries, my count has left me at about 40 wines tasted that day. To some, that’s a lot. To others, they ask “why so few?”. Two reasons: 1) I still needed to drive home from SF to Napa and 2) I needed to actually taste everything I was trying. Of course, I had a little something to help me along my tasting day (aside from the massive amounts of cheese and bread and water they served us), but even then, by the end of my day, I was happy to be done tasting.

Below are some of my wrap-up tweets showing my #zinfest favorites – you’ll find that over the coming weeks and months, I’ll be highlighting these wines and wineries. Net-net: I hit pay dirt for the ol’ blog, with at least a half-dozen new wines and wineries to talk about. To keep up on these, be sure to watch for the zinfest tag for my posts. This will be your clue that I tasted their wine during the ZAP event, and should definitely be intrigued to try their wine(s) out.

Sante!