2020 Zinfandel – Redtail Vineyard

In 2012 the Redtail Vineyard was planted adjacent to our winery in the heart of the Jahant AVA. The 3.62 acre block has open vines with small canopies allowing filtered sunlight to uniformly ripen clusters.

To reflect on the 2020 growing season, we must look to the end of 2019. Our rain-season began with a good steady pace in late November and continued through early January, but Mother Nature turned off her spigot and we only had a couple good storms in March and April. As spring arrived, the vines awoke on-time, but the temperatures were erratic, resulting in shatter and poor berry set for many varietals. After a short heat spike in late May, summer temperatures were normal, and we had healthy vine canopies. In mid-August, lasting through September, high-elevation smoke from the wildfires was present off-and-on which likely moderated the forecasted high temperatures. In the end, most sensitive white varietals were harvested before the smoke arrived showing great quality aromatics and flavors, and the poor fruit set in many of our red varietals during the Spring gave us amazing concentration of flavor and aroma in the finished wines.

Jahant AVA – Located in the center of the Lodi AVA, the Jahant AVA is geographically the smallest of Lodi’s seven AVAs – a total size of 28,000 acres, with roughly 9,000 acres planted to vineyard. It sits on highly dissected river terraces and old floodplain deposits. The classic Mediterranean climate has Delta fog influence, and receives cold air drainage and entrapment within our vineyards.