2019 Beeson Ranch Zinfandel Dry Creek Valley /Don Wallace features/ finewinesproductions.com

Have Wine Will Travel Radio

We have another amazing feature with Don Wallace and Dry Creek Vineyard! This wine is even older than I am...well, the vines are... A beautiful vineyard and indeed a world class Zinfandel. We always look at the tasting notes and other information from their great website. drycreekvineyard.com Winemaker Notes: Planted in the late 1800s, Beeson Ranch is one of Dry Creek Valley’s oldest and most prized vineyards. The old gnarled vines, first planted by Italian immigrants, provide us with some of our most intriguing Zinfandel grapes. The initial aromatics of the wine are refined and elegant with underlying elements of raspberry, plum and black cherry. After several minutes of airing, hints of cinnamon and cedar waft from the glass. The full palate is supple and rich with notes of boysenberry, blackberry, black tea and wild sage. The wine’s earthy complexity and fine tannins help support a smooth and silky texture. BLEND: 91% Zinfandel, 9% Petite Sirah FERMENTATION: 12–16 days in fermenters at 82–88˚F; pumped over twice daily BARREL AGING: 17 months in French, Hungarian and American oak; 25% new oak HARVEST DATE: September 24–30, 2019 SOIL: Iron-rich, reddish soils VINE AGE: 100+ years The story of Dry Creek Vineyard and the Stare Wallace family isn’t one of fairy tales. There is no corporate mogul writing checks every month, or a day job in a lucrative industry to fund the winery. Our story is this: one dedicated family working day and night for five decades to turn what many considered an idealistic pipedream, into a reality that revolutionized the California wine industry. Founder David S. Stare always had a dream to live overseas, so after he completed his degree in Civil Engineering at MIT and his MBA at Northwestern, he moved to Germany. While living there, he visited many of the wineries and started to develop an interest in wine. He returned to Boston in the spring of 1969 firmly bitten by the wine bug and enrolled in a wine appreciation class. In June of 1970, Dave and his family spent two weeks in France, where he fell in love with French wines, specifically the wines of the Loire Valley and Bordeaux. Shortly after returning from the trip, he read an article in the Wall Street Journal about what a great future California had for making world-class wines. After a trip to California, he packed up his wife and kids in a mint green station wagon to carve out his path in the wine industry. Dave’s daughter, Kim Stare Wallace, was literally raised among the vines in Sonoma County’s Dry Creek Valley. Throughout her childhood she watched as her father established the first new winery to be built in the region following Prohibition and champion Dry Creek Valley as a world-class winegrowing appellation. As a teen, Kim worked in the office, cellar and on the bottling line, as well as accompanying her parents on countless sales trips, business dinners and wine tastings. From the very beginning, she grew up with a passion and understanding of the wine industry. Despite her upbringing, Kim always swore that she would never work for the winery and began a career in the fashion industry after college. Ultimately, the pull of the family business was too great and her father convinced her to come back to the winery as Director of Marketing in 1987. Kim’s husband, Don Wallace, joined the winery managing ranch operations in 1990. In the mid-nineties, Kim and Don took on increased responsibilities, becoming involved in all decisions affecting the quality of the Dry Creek Vineyard experience and winery operations . Please clcik on the link and join us for this great feature on this amazing Zinfandel. Click here and join us as we enjoy great food and wine .