If you are visiting us for the first time, Welcome! The Wine Spies feature one exceptional wine each day – and we only bring you wines that we ourselves seek out and love. Sign up for our Daily Dispatch email above to be the first to know about our wines. The wines are great. Sometimes greater than great, as is the case with today’s wine from Kelly Creek Winery.

Mission Codename: Success breeds more success

Operative: Agent Zin

Objective: Find a wine that is not in general release and make it available to our Operatives

Mission Status: Accomplished!

Current Winery: Kelly Creek Winery

Wine Subject: 2005 Kelly Creek Zinfandel

Winemakers: Scott Lindstrom-Dake

Backgrounder:

Winemaker, Scott Lindstrom-Dake, has been making great wine since 1995. His Thumbprint Cellars wines are among our very favorites and now he brings you Kelly Creek wines, grown on his family’s estate in Dry Creek Valley.

Of winemaking, Scott says, “I developed a palate for fine wine, but as a college student I couldn’t afford to buy it. My mom and step-dad have been growing premium wine grapes for years and the light bulb just kind of went on- I can make my own wine.”

So it began with Thumbprint. A few years later, Scott’s Kelly Creek wines exhibit all of the qualities we have come to expect from this masterful winemaker. If you love Thumbprint wines, you’ll love Kelly Creek. Just don’t expect them to be a carbon copy of Tumbprint, because, these new wines seem to have a unique character of there own.

Wine Spies Tasting Profile:

Look – Deep, dark, clear plum

Smell – complex fruit with an equally beautiful measure of cherry, plum and wild berries

Feel – Soft and smooth in the mouth with great tannins that do not overwhelm

Taste – Sweet and spicy, berry and plum with mild oak and medium tannins

Finish – Velvet smooth with long lasting, all over the mouth flavors with tannins that taper smoothly

Conclusion – This wine gets a massive Wine Spies recommendation! I personally give this wine extremely high marks. I usually loves to drink with friends, but not with this particular zinfandel. Some wines are too good to be shared! Be fast on this one before I decide to buy them all myself!

Mission Report:

As a deep cover agent, I’m not often going public with my mission briefings. Usually, I do the more Top Secret work while Agents Red and White are off gallivanting around the globe. Today is going to be different because I am thrilled to report that I have uncovered an incredible new wine – and scooped my fellow agents by bringing it to you before the rest of the wine buying public finds out!

The Wine Spies have been big fans of winemaker Scott Lindstrom-Dake. His Thumbprint Cellars wines are world class, elegant, and downright tasty. Because I work hard to keep my network of assets working for me, I was able to learn of Scott’s new Kelly Creek wines long before they appeared on everyone elses radar. Keeping my ear to the vineyard floor allows me to maintain close connections with winemakers around the region. This attention pays off for the Wine Spies and for you, our loyal operatives.

The reward, in this case, is a wine that is available exclusively for you. Since we have successfully completed missions with Scott in the past, he was thrilled to make available to our operatives a small quantity of his new zinfandel. After you, our operatives, grab it all up, it may be some time before it is available again.

I sometimes have a problem with Zinfandels. So many are weak and thin on the palate, but this Zin is full-bodied – exhibiting all of the character, charm and handcrafted quality that Scott’s wines have become known for. Since I am very particular about the zinfandels I will drink, I have to tell you that this is one of the best I have tried in recent memory.

Wine Spies Vineyard Check:

The location of the Kelly Creek Estate vineyards can be seen in this satellite photo