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 2009 JC Cellars Iron Hill Zinfandel.

The Winery

JC Cellars (“JCC”) is an award-winning urban winery located in Oakland, CA.  Jeff Cohn is the winemaker and president. His wife Alexandra Cohn is the CFO. The winery was founded in 1997.

JCC is best known for their single vineyard Zinfandels, and Rhone blends. Their impressive portfolio of wines includes white and red Rhône blends, Syrah, Petite Sirah, a few other “red blends” (most notably, the Imposter and Smoke and Mirrors) Pinot Noir, a Rosé, a newly release single vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, and a dessert wine. Annual production is about 5000 cases.

Jeff has access to some prime fruit, including renowned vineyards such as Rockpile in Sonoma, Stagecoach in Napa, and Dusi in Paso Robles. And Jeff certainly knows how to make great fruit into great wine. JCC has earned boatloads of 90+ point wines from major wine publications like Wine Spectator, and the Wine Advocate.

I think it’s fair to say Jeff likes to “tinker”, or as the JC Cellars website put it… “Jeff fuses his passion for classic French winemaking with New World innovation”. He released his first Pinot Noir this summer, and sells a Viognier that is a collaboration with a French winery –  Domaine François Villard of Condrieu.  As if his gig at JC Cellars/Jeff Cohn Wines weren’t enough, Jeff is also a consulting winemaker.

The Wine

The fruit for this wine was sourced for the Iron Hill Vineyard in Sonoma Valley.  The vineyard is planted on volcanic rock,  with not much dirt to speak of, and a very large lavender patch right next to the vineyard.  It produces a Zinfandel that is distinctive and exotic that’s more in tune with Côte Rôtie in Northern Rhone than Sonoma.

My tasting notes follow:

Nearly opaque purple color with lifted lavender, leather, dark fruits, white pepper, and a bit of garrigue aromas. On the palate, it approaches full-bodied, and is fresh with a plush mouthfeel and layers of black raspberry, black cherry, blueberry, red currant and spice flavors. Medium long finish.  SRP-$35 |225 cases| 14.8% alcohol

Wine purchased for review

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This article is original to ENOFYLZ Wine Blog.com. Copyright 2013 ENOFYLZ Wine Blog. All rights reserved.