Palate
The Bridgehead Zinfandel is perpetually the most refined and elegant of the several Zinfandels that we produce. Our 2018 Bridgehead Zinfandel has notes of spices and wonderful strawberries. The wine has a fine-grained structure that creates balanced acids and tannins with nuances of both chocolate and toasty vanilla. This wine will age beautifully over the next 5 to 7 years. Its claret-like style and intriguingly complex earthy-berry character make this one of California's most distinct and our most treasured Zinfandels.
Growing Conditions
The Bridgehead vineyard is named after Bridgehead Road in Oakley, California. It is the road that runs adjacent to our treasured lot. This vineyard consistently produces one of our most individual and refined lots of Zinfandel. It was planted by Italian immigrants in the late 1800s. It is one of California’s most historic vineyards. The vines are head-trained and dry-farmed in sandy soils. They also have a unique band of cooling air from the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. These qualities create an incredible synergy of elements that express the unique characteristics of this site.
Harvest
August 29
Winemaking
The grapes from the Bridgehead Vineyard were harvested at the ideal sugar levels and treated gently in the cellar to emphasize the explosive fruit characteristic of the block. The fruit was destemmed and lightly crushed, with a large proportion of whole berries remaining in the must. Fermentation occurred at moderate temperatures in, stainless steel tanks, using native yeast. After 10 days of gentle "pump-overs" and near dryness, we drained and pressed the wine from its skins.
Aging
The Bridgehead Zinfandel was minimally handled before being put down to barrel and was aged for 12 months in a combination of new and used medium-dark toasted oak before bottling.
