2022 Turley Wine Cellars, Zinfandel, Juvenile, California.
The lush, ripe and luxuriously textured 2022 Juvenile Zinfandel by Turley is everything you would expect from this winery and is a great value for the quality, with a dark opaque purple/granet color in the glass this wine delivers a rich array of black raspberry, sweet plum, currant jam and cherry fruits, along with a dusting of spices, pretty florals, minty anise and creamy vanilla. The Turley Cellars Juvenile bottling comes from vines that range in age from about 6-25 years, and, as the winery notes, pulled from a selection of their best vineyards across California, including typically, the famous Hayne, in Napa Valley, their Pesenti estate in Paso, as well as sites like the Salvador Vineyard, Vineyard 101, Fredericks Vineyard, and Kirschenmann Vineyard, in Lodi. These excellent Turley sourced sites from Paso Robles to the Napa Valley, as well as Amador and Lodi, are all sustainable farmed and or organic vineyards. I’ve enjoyed this wine twice lately with similar and rewarding results, so can certainly recommend it all Turley and Zinfandel fans and it was delicious with a hearty meaty meal.
The Turley Juvenile, made by Tegan Passalacqua and his team, as mentioned in my prior reviews, is sourced from close to 27 vineyards, mostly all organic and sustainably farmed and is traditionally fermented using fully de-stemmed Zinfandel grapes and native yeasts. Turley notes that the Juvenile is actually composed of a variety of young vines that have been replanted in several of their old vine sites. They tag the younger vines then pick them, which is done separately and make they make each a distinct wine in separate lots, and blended to taste and style later. Turley has been hand crafting this Juvenile since 1999 and the recipe hasn’t changed too much, though certainly under Passalacqua’s vineyard and cellar guidance Larry Turley’s wines have continued to rise in quality, highlighting the care and extreme effort he has put in here since taking over the winemaker duties. The classic ripe, full-bodied and dark garnet hued Juvenile Zin, follows the winemaking of single vineyard wines, saw about 12 months in 80% French and 20% American oak with 95% being used barrels and just 5% new here and the Zin was bottled unfined. The 2022s are drinking well young and there’s no patience required here, drink up.
($25 Est.) 93 Points, grapelive