Every Thursday I feature a wine I particularly enjoy, whether it’s something new and different, is a great value, or from a producer worth checking out. For this week, my Wine Of The Week is the 2007 Bradford Mountain Zinfandel.
The Winery
Bradford Mountain Winery is located in Healdsburg, CA. The label was started by George Hambrecht just out of college, in the late ’90s. The first crush was in October 1998, and produced about 1,800 cases of wine.
According to Bradford…
Over the years, our fruit has been purchased by such luminaries as Turley, Gary Farrell, Quivira, and Alysian, as well as other well-known producers.
I was referred to Bradford Mountain a few years ago by a friend who works in the wine business. He was kind enough to set up a private tasting for my wife and I. When we arrived at the address, we noted that it was (at the time) C. Donatiello winery. Today, it is VML winery. Since Bradford Mountain, and VML share an address, I believe that’s where you can purchase the Bradford Mountain wines (by the way VML is a great spot for tasting – they focus on Pinot, and Chardonnay).
It was a bit of an unusual tasting in that we were ushered to the back of the winery to do the tasting. I vividly recall the tasting because it was a hot day, and there were fruit flies everywhere! Setting aside the fruit flies and the heat it was a great tasting. We picked up a few bottles of this wine and their Grist Vineyard Syrah.
The Wine
This wine is a combination of fruit from Grist Vineyard, which located on Bradford Mountain – the highest point on Dry Creek Valley’s western edge (click here for video profile), and vineyard on the Dry Creek valley floor. The Grist Vineyard is located on a hilltop plateau 1100 feet above the valley floor, and was planted to Zinfandel nearly 100 years ago. The fruit for this wine is from vines are between 10 and about 40 years old.
The vineyard soil is rugged red decomposing volcanic rock, and I believe that results in the distinctive mineral component of this wine.
My tasting notes follow:
Garnet color with dark fruit, licorice, and spice aromas. On the palate, it’s medium bodied and fresh with a silky texture I don’t recall ever experiencing at this point, good balance, and soft well-integrated tannins. It shows flavors of mixed berry, hints of cassis, spice, dark chocolate and mineral flavors with a medium-long finish – 91pts
Rating: Highly Recommended. This wine drinks like many a $35-$45 Zins I’ve had. Off the chart QPR! It’s aged well, I last had a bottle about a year ago
Pair with: Seared Ahi Tuna, Ciopppino, BBQ Spareribs, Burgers or Rack of Lamb!
The Wine Geek Stuff:
- Alcohol: 14.2
- Closure: Cork
- AVA: > California> Sonoma County> Dry Creek Valley
- Grape Varieties: 100% Zinfandel
- Cooperage: 14 months in French, Hungarian, and American oak barrels; 40% new oak
- Retail: $18
- Cases produced: Unknown
- Drink: now – 2014
This above wine was purchased for review