Taste: Fresh, bright nose of raspberry, cinnamon, and spicy cranberry, underpinned with notes of dark chocolate. Structurally, a more elegant style of Zinfandel along the lines of our Lot 88 with the fruit profile of our Flying Winemaker Lodi Zinfandel. Fantastic pizza and pasta wine that will pair well with a variety of foods given its higher pH. On the palate the fruit flavors are mirrored with plenty of zingy raspberry, spicy plum, and cranberry notes, all underpinned by that dark-chocolate oak note.
Cameron Confidential: I got a phone call last spring that the new owners of a particular mid-sized, super/ultra-premium winery with facilities around the state had decided to "rightsize" their wine portfolio. After they spent large dollar amounts on rapid growth and what the business calls "spifs" and the "vig" (promotional dollars), a sharp auditor recommended that by simply cutting the production in half, they could get rid of the "spifs" and return the winery to profitability and a pathway to more organic growth. We were invited in to go hog-wild in the Lodi facility and—like the proverbial kid in the candy store—winemaker David came up with no fewer than 5 different wines, with new blends coming all the time.
The winery we purchased these from is a unique operation preferring to make a variety of "component wines" from various vineyards and varietals and then blending upward of 40 different wines per year from those components. There is not a tank larger than 8,000 gallons in the winery to facilitate this sort of small-lot winemaking, and the artisan who assembles the final blends is truly a master, making a range of wines from $250 a bottle Napa Cabs to $18 a bottle California red blends. Sister wines include our Lot 89 Lodi Syrah and Lot 90 Lodi Tannat—also exceptional values.
Staff Picks
Lot 114
2007 Sonoma County Zinfandel
- Vintage: 2007
- Appellation: Sonoma County
- Grape: Zinfandel
- Alcohol by volume: 13.5%
- Production: 2,912 cases
- Release date: July 16, 2009
- Online availability: Sold out
Downloads
- Lot 114 sell sheet (pdf)
- Lot 114 8.5 x 11 (pdf)
- Lot 114 small notes (pdf)
- Lot 114 Safeway (pdf)
