2012 Vineyard 1869 Old Vine Zinfandel, Amador County 1.5L Magnum

Produced in the old world style of balanced wine making. We want the wine to express the Amador Zinfandel terroir with a good balance of fruit, French oak, structural tannins and medium alcohol. The wine is made in the California Claret style reminiscent of the balanced Zinfandels produced back in the 60’s and 70’s.

Briary varietal, layered Zinfandel with flavors of blackberry, fig, pomegranate, violets and a balanced, fleshy center with hints of coffee and bright currants. Old Vine complexity with first growth quality.

Vineyard/Vintage Notes: Produced 94% from the Harvey Vineyard, America’s oldest Zinfandel Vineyard documented as existing in 1869. “Vineyard 1869” was planted in the days when horses were used for cultivation. This ancient vineyard is non-irrigated, stand alone head pruned vines that fully express the Amador Zinfandel terroir. 94% 144+ year old vines from the Harvey Vineyard known as “Vineyard 1869”, 6% Barbera from the Toy Vineyard in the Shenandoah Valley of Amador County.

This is the taste of history! For over 140 years these ancient vines have plunged their roots through twenty-five feet of multiple soil types in search of water. The result is an elegant, complex, first-growth wine. Vineyard 1869's existence was noted in a deed from an 1869 U.S. Geological Survey, making it America's oldest documented Zinfandel vineyard. The immigrants who planted these vines chose them from hardy stock. In the 1890's the vines survived the nearly total destruction of California's vineyards by phylloxera. Due to moon-lit nights of unregulated distillation, Vineyard 1869 also survived Prohibition. It wasn't until 1984 when the vineyard was pur-chased by Scott Harvey, a German-trained, California winemaker, that the vines were lovingly coaxed back into producing small yields of high quality, first-growth Zinfandel. It is now coveted for producing California's premier Old Vine Zinfandel.