2021 TriZin Zinfandel
Tasting Notes:
You've heard of someone who harbors a trifecta of talent, right? A triple-threat? The brilliant actor, dancer, and singer? Of course, that's Lin Manuel Miranda. And the Lin Manuel Miranda of Zinfandel is this Tri Zin, a trifecta of grape talent sourced from vines in Sonoma County (81%), Amador County (15%), and Contra Costa County (4%). It sings out of the glass with high-toned red berry fruits. It dances on the palate with toffee and sweet cedar, kicking up dusty tannins. It acts like a wine that will live on forever. But it won't, because you will finish it off.
Appellation Notes: Sonoma County, Amador County, Contra Costa County AVAs
Sonoma County: Here’s the thing you need to know about Sonoma County: While it is roughly an hour north of San Francisco, encompassing a vast area of crazy mixed-up soils amidst valleys, hills, and coastal plains, Sonoma County is NOT an AVA itself. Sorry. However, it contains…(drum roll)....19 AVAs within its boundaries! Spanning 76 miles of the California coast from Annapolis and Cloverdale in the north to Petaluma, Sonoma, and Carneros in the south. The region's unique terroir is insanely complicated.
Contra Costa County: We’ll never forget the first time we drove out to see vineyards in Contra Costa, located within the San Francisco Bay AVA, quite east of the city. We ate Ribeyes and baked beans at Mac’s Old House in Antioch and trekked among the vines. The AVA border begins west of the towns of Martinez and Contra Costa, where vineyards are sandwiched between apartment buildings, shopping malls, and rooted along the highways that follow the Sacramento-San Joaquin inland river delta. The AVA spans east, and its northern border follows the delta past Oakley and south to Byron. In the 1890s, a host of immigrants, mostly Italian, who had come for the 1849 Gold Rush, established vineyards in the sandy banks along the delta. Incredibly, some are still producing grapes today. The wines are deliciously bold with dark blue and black fruit flavors.