California’s Dry Creek Valley is the home office of Zinfandel. Certainly there are fine examples made elsewhere, but Dry Creek Valley has a stunning away of great ones emanating from its confines. Dry Creek Vineyard, the namesake winery of the appellation makes several consistently terrific Zins themselves. Today I’ll look at the current release of their Heritage Zinfandel.
The Dry Creek Vineyard 2010 Heritage Zinfandel was produced from fruit sourced in Sonoma County. This vintage blends together Zinfandel (88%) and Petite Sirah (12%). Fermentation took place over 18 days in stainless steel followed by 14 months of barrel aging in a combination of French, American and Hungarian oak; 15% of the barrels utilized were new. Just more than 13,000 cases of this Zinfandel were produced and it has a suggested retail price of $19.
The nose of this 2010 Zinfandel is inundated with brambly dark berry aromas and a supporting undercurrent of crème fraiche. Black cherry flavors lead the palate along with bits of blueberry, blackberry and lots of spice character. Minerals, sour fruit, black pepper and dusty chocolate notes all emerge on the finish which has good length. This is a classically styled Zinfandel that has some jam components but it leads with excellent structure.
What I love most about this wine is its consistent quality. Vintages vary to be sure but year after year this is a well proportioned, even keeled Zinfandel. For those who prefer their Zins balanced and food friendly this is absolutely one of the go to choices in the under $20 price tier. It’s delicious today, particularly after 45 minutes of aeration, but this Zin will drink well for the next 5 years at minimum.