Since 1996, Dashe Cellars has been making Zinfandels from the Dry Creek Valley. To make this special Reserve wine, we’ve selected two of our favorite vineyards from the Dry Creek region and then tasted every barrel, to select the best-tasting barrels within the vineyards. We wanted to show off the best characteristics of the Dry Creek Valley with an intensity, a complex spectrum of flavors, and a balance of pure fruit flavors and bright acidity. This is a particularly complex, lovely, and fruit-forward wine—a classic, balanced Dry Creek Zinfandel.

The vintage of 2017 was a challenging one, featuring a heat spike in early September and of course a terrible tragic wildfire in October. Luckily, the heat spike ripened the grapes just at the right time, and we were able to pick perfectly ripened grapes in a short amount of time. We had picked virtually all of our grapes before the wildfire began.

The wine was fermented using only the natural yeast population on the grapes—our tradition at Dashe Cellars—and the resulting wine shows off the terroir of the vineyards beautifully. The wine was aged for 14 months in 20% new French oak barrels, and the remainder in older French oak barrels to gain the softness of oak aging without adding excessive oak flavors. Before the final blend, we tasted all our barrels to select out only the best Zinfandel lots for this reserve wine. Finally, in our blending trials, we added about 10% of Petite Sirah, for structure and long aging potential.

Black-purple in color. Aromas of blackberry, black current, hints of cherry liqueur, and chocolate, with an underlying floral component of violets, are found on the nose. The palate reveals a beautiful texture, intense fruit flavors of blackberry and cassis, hints of chocolate and licorice, great acidity, and balance. One of the most sensual Dry Creek Zinfandels we’ve made, with viscose texture, round sweet fruit flavors, and a long and balanced sweet red-fruit finish.