Mission Codename The Zin King
Welcome to the Wine Spies Intrigue Awards for 2015! Each year we recognize our most popular and sought-after wines from the previous year - while giving our Operatives one final chance to secure some of the winning wines for themselves.
We may never show this wine again, so grab yours while you still can!
Today’s Saddleback Cellars 2013 Napa Valley Old Vine Zinfandel is our Wine Spies 2015 Intrigue Awards winner for Honorable Mention.
By now you know that Saddleback is one of our favorite small wineries. We’ve been showcasing their wines here since 2007. After tasting their wines back then, I set about to learn all that I could about their winery and winemaker.
Winemaker Nils Venge is the first American winemaker to have garnered a perfect 100 point score. That was back in 1985, when Robert Parker gave Nils’ Groth Cabernet the score that would rocket Nils to winemaking stardom.
This wine is very fragrant, with a full bouquet of fruit, flowers, earth and spice. A heady rush of aromas jumps from the glass, leading with Smoky black cherry, blackberry jam, blueberry, dried violet, cigar box, dried twigs, brown spice and black pepper.
An explosion of flavors on the palate, including Black cherry, blackberry, cassis, tobacco, leather, dried violet, toasty oak, spice and black pepper.
Today’s award-winning 2013 Napa Valley Old Vine Zinfandel is available today only at better than 25% off. This delicious wine is a big, bold, juicy cowboy style wine with tons of character. Reserve yours soon though, our allocation is modest - and expected to be very popular.
What the Winery Says
2013 Napa Valley Old Vine Zinfandel
- Winemaker
- Nils Venge
- Varietal
- Zinfandel
- Composition
- 88% Zinfandel from Frediani Vineyard
- ~
- 12% Petite Sirah from Rattlesnake Vineyard
- Vintage
- 2013
- Appellation
- Napa Valley, Calistoga
- Harvest date
- September 17, 2013
- Abv
- 14.8%
- Average Sugar
- 25 Brix
- TA
- 6.1 g/L
- pH
- 3.88
- Aging
- 24 months
- Barrels
- 65% New American Oak
- Bottling date
- March 18, 2015
- Production
- 768 cases