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Today’s featured Zinfandel is a truly delicious and remarkably unique wine. Usually only available at the winery, today is your opportunity to add this great wine to your cellar collection.

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Mission Codename: Sonoma’s Piedmont

Operative: Agent White

Objective: Send Agent White to Ravenswood Winery and acquire another worldwide exclusive Zinfandel, available nowhere outside of the winery

Mission Status: Accomplished!

Current Winery: Ravenswood Winery

Wine Subject: 2006 Cooke Vineyard Sonoma County Zinfandel

Winemaker: Joel Peterson

Backgrounder: Sonoma County is well known for producing some of the best wines in California, however, not long ago, Sonoma was better know as a provider of grapes for blending despite some of the best vineyards in the region having been planted in the 1800s. In the 1960s that all changed when Simi Winery in Alexander Valley changed hands and brought attention to the region. With a tremendous diversity of soil, climates and aspect, Sonoma County is now home to over 200 wineries spread across several diverse valleys such as Dry Creek, Russian River and Alexander Valley as well as hillside vineyards with the distinct mountain Terroir to the Mayacama range.

Zinfandel is related to the Italian Primitivo grape, tracing its origin to the Croatian grape Crljenak Kastelanski. Zinfandel is one of the most versatile varietals with the ability to make wines, both rich to fruity, dark to light, and dry to sweet. Sonoma Valley Old Vine Zinfandels, which are characterized by their refinement and balance, are extraordinarily popular with our Operatives.

Wine Spies Tasting Profile:

Look – Deep and dark ruby red with purple hues with a deep clear heart. Along the edges, the color lightens slightly to include ruby and pink tints. When swirled, tightly spaced random thin legs race to the wine below.

Smell – Bold and redolent with bright aromas of cherry and dusty bramble fruit over a heady and spicy peppery base. Complex herbal aromatics, floral violets, sweet and sandalwood and hints of cocoa invite you in.

Feel – Initially bone dry in its muscular attack and highly textured, this full bodied dry wine has firm etched tannins, lively acidity and fantastic minerality that smooths as this wine opens, but the textural quality remains and grips the palate long into the finish.

Taste – Uniquely old world and almost austere at mid-palate for a California wine in its flavors with its peppery hot exotic spice blending with red and black cherry, plum and blackberry. All the complex undertones found in the nose incorporate with a subtle zesty tar, herbal and cocoa component.

Finish – Extremely long with the grippy and textured tannins and acidity holding tight as the fruit slowly fades leaving hints of the other complex flavors behind.

Conclusion – The 2006 Cooke Vineyard Zinfandel is a truly unique wine with great concentration and raw power in its texture and complexity. An amazing nose with both intensity and subtlety. Somewhat restrained on the palate with regard to its fruit. And a finish that continues for minutes. Reminiscent of old-world Piedmontese wines pair this wine with a dish that is rich and fat as the etched texture will cut through it like a hot knife through butter.

Mission Report:
WINEMAKER INTEL BRIEFING DOSSIER

SUBJECT: JOEL PETERSON

DATE OF BIRTH: APRIL 1947

PLACE OF BIRTH: Born in Oakland, California. Fifth generation Californian.

SIGNATURE VARIETAL: ZINFANDEL

WINEMAKER QUOTE: ”Style, history, quality, character – California wine has it all.”

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WINEMAKER INTERVIEW

AGENT WHITE: Greetings, Joel. We are thrilled to be showing your exceptional 2006 Cooke Vineyard Zinfandel today. Thanks so much for taking some time to answer questions for our Operatives today.

JOEL PETERSON: Happy to answer questions, particularly when they are about my favorite subject, wine. I am also thrilled that you are showing my wine today. Direct experience is one of the best ways that we have of developing fans for Ravenswood wines.

WHITE: I’m sure that our Operatives will respond well to today’s offer. Was there a specific experience in your life that inspired your love of wine?

JOEL: My father taught me to taste when I was fairly young. Many young men play baseball or hunt with their fathers (we did those things as well), but what was unusual was that I learned to taste wine and as a result got an olfactory training that is fairly rare. The single wine that change my vision of wine was a 1957 Chateau Fortia. I was about 20 years old and had developed incredibly interesting and complex perfume and flavors making is one of the most memorable wines that I had tasted up to that date.

WHITE: And where did you learn the most about winemaking?

JOEL: I spent the years from 1973 until 1977 with Joseph Swan learning the nuts and bolts of winemaking. Joe was good friends with Andre Tchelistcheff and used him as a consultant, so I was able to learn in a very hands on way from the best in the business.

WHITE: What is your winemaking style or philosophy?

JOEL: Wines should reflect the flavors of the places that they were grown. Wine should taste like fruit, not oak. Wine should be balanced, rich and complex and interesting. The best wines are the ones that develop well with age. To that end we attempt to let each vineyard express it’s optimal character by using winemaking techniques and careful attention to detail that dwells on each vineyards particular strengths. Our mantra is “no wimpy wines”, meaning that we want each wine we have to exhibit strength of character, not merely power.

WHITE: What wine or winemaker has most influenced your winemaking style?

JOEL: There are a whole series of wines that have influenced my winemaking style. Most of them have been European form places like Bordeaux, the Rhone and northern Italy. These memorable wines have a certain balance of fruit, density, acid and tannin that I find desirable in a wine.

WHITE: How long have you been making wine?

JOEL: 35 years

WHITE: Who do you make wine for?

JOEL: I make the wine that best expresses the vineyard, the vintage is balanced and tastes good. As a result ,it is fair to say that, Ravenswood makes wine for me, wine reviewers and wine lovers everywhere.

WHITE: In your opinion, what makes the Cooke Vineyard so special?

JOEL: It is special because of the difficult soils and the hillside location that gets plenty of sunshine, but has a cooling breeze most of the day which is perfect for producing flavorful, well-balanced grapes.

WHITE: What is one piece of advice that you would give to someone that is considering a career as a winemaker?

JOEL: Learn your craft well, be patient and love what you do. It is not “just a job”.

WHITE: What is occupying your time at the winery these days?

JOEL: We are just cleaning up after harvest, making our preliminary blends, deciding how much new oak to use in our wines, hoping that our malolactic fermentations finish and being grateful that a very long harvest is behind us.

WHITE: Please tell me a little bit about the wine we are featuring today

JOEL: The wine being featured today comes from Cooke Vineyard which is a very small vineyard in the foothills of the Mayacamas Mountains. It is about 1200 ft above the Sonoma Valley floor. The vines are planted in solid volcanic schists. In fact, the owner of this vineyard, Charlie Cooke, was so set on having a vineyard that he dynamited the hillside so that the vines would be able to penetrate the soil. Although the vineyard is only 20 years old, it looks much older because it has to struggle so to survive. The vineyard typically produces less than one half ton per acre. The clusters are very small, and the berries are very small which leads to wine with intense spicy flavors, intense cherries and raspberries, and frequently scents that resemble the aromatics of bay leaves. It also has very notable black pepper finish..

WHITE: What is your favorite pairing with today’s wine?

JOEL: Anything that you might find in Tuscany. Grilled meats, meat based tomato sauce with polenta, and anything that includes lots of garlic and olive oil.

WHITE: Please share one thing about yourself that few people know

JOEL: I delivered my son, Morgan, at home.

WHITE: Both of my mini-agents were, as well! Tell me, what is your favorite ‘everyday’ or table wine?

JOEL: Sherman and Hookers Shebang. A one liter jug wine from California. Beyond that, I taste so much, my answer should be whatever wine is in front of me.

WHITE: How would you recommend that people approach your wines, or wine in general?

JOEL: With a sense of exploration, joy and with food and company.

WHITE: If you could choose any one wine to drink (regardless of price or availability), what would it be?

JOEL: I would never make such a choice. Wine is about diversity and complexity. One wine would be boring. This is not a monotheistic endeavor.

WHITE: Excellent answer! What is the one question that I should have asked you, and what is your answer to that question?

JOEL: Do you have the best, most interesting, most diverse, most challenging, most satisfying job in the universe? YES

WHITE: Thank you so much for your time. We learned a lot about you – and about your wine. Keep up the great work, we are big fans!

JOEL: Every winery needs fans. Without them there is only a singular void. So, thank you to you and all those who make wine part of their daily experience.

Wine Spies Vineyard Check:

The location of the Ravenswood Winery can be seen in this satellite photo.