2012 Turley Zinfandel Dogtown Vineyard

(15.2% alcohol; from volcanic, iron-rich clay and loam soil): Bright medium red. Lively but subdued aromas of raspberry, cherry and spices. Less complex today than the Kirschenmann but juicy and penetrating; like an elixir of pomegranate and cranberry. Very pure but tight and in need of a couple years of patience.

Another Lodi offering, the 2012 Zinfandel Dogtown comes from a head-trained vineyard planted on its own roots in 1944. This wine offers up aromas of pomegranate, red apple skins, cherries, wild strawberries, and dusty, loamy soil. Turley Wine Cellars has long been one of the more enviable wine operations in California. Larry Turley should, and does, receive enormous credit for nearly single-handedly preserving many of the heritage old vine Zinfandel sites that exist in northern California. Most of them were threatened with being torn up with what was believed to be more popular varietals such as Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir. This estate produces nearly thirty single vineyard Zinfandels and Petite Syrahs, all from organically farmed vineyards. Natural yeast fermentations have always been the rule, and the percentage of new oak used has dropped from a high of 30% to about half that. Their Zinfandels are never shy, but tasting through the 2012s, it appears they are not as extracted as they once were, but the alcohols remain in the 15% to 16% range because Zinfandel is rarely ripe at lower sugars. It appears that Larry Turley was destined to resuscitate these old vine vineyards as he worked for a quarter of a century as an emergency room doctor. He now works full time shaping wines from nearly three dozen old vine parcels. As he says, he’s never met an old vine vineyard he didn’t like. Turley’s long-time assistant winemaker, Ehren Jordan, has left to pursue his own project (Failla Wines), but Turley has the highly competent Tegan Passalacqua as his wingman. Virtually every one of these 2012 Zinfandels will be drinkable upon release in 2014, and should last for 6-8 years. Larry Turley was one of the first to exploit some of the old vine vineyards planted in sandy soils from the backwater areas of Lodi and Contra Costa. The two Contra Costa sites include the Duarte and Salvador, both ancient vineyards with the Salvador directly planted on its own roots in 1896. The Duarte was named after a prominent grower in Contra Costa. The Petite Syrahs are different animals altogether and most of them should keep for 30-40 years – at a minimum! Tel. (707) 963-0940

Sweet red cherries, flowers, mint and cinnamon all waft from the glass in the 2012 Zinfandel Dogtown Vineyard. This is one of the more lifted, aromatically expressive wines in the range. Here, too, I expect the Dogtown to drink nicely from the start.