2023 Turley Wine Cellars, Zinfandel, Steacy Ranch, Lodi, California.
Deliciously lifted from the long cool growing season and full bodied, this old vine 2023 Steacy Ranch Zinfandel, from Larry Turley at Turley Wine Cellars, is deeply purple/garnet in the glass and full of classic Zin brambly raspberry, candied cherry, plum and round currant fruits, along with delicate florals, sweet toasty cedary oak, vanilla, sage and faint hint of roasted, shaved coconut. The mouth feel is lush, but not flabby, with fine tannins, a vinous creaminess and a lingering framboise finish, perfectly suited to the marinated ribs, hickory smoked baked beans and BBQ fixings, which cut into the about 15% natural alcohol nicely as well. These modern Turley efforts, overseen by Tegan Passacqua, the director winemaking and vineyard manager at Turley, are tasty snapshots of California history in the glass and capture the essence of these old vine vineyards with a robust opulence that the state is famous for. Again, this wine, which a friend opened really shined with the meal and was the perfect way to enjoy a Carmel Valley sunset.
The 120 year old Steacy Ranch in Lodi, which Turley started using as a single vineyard wine in 2015, set on the region’s Tokay fine sandy loam and gravelly soils was one of the first vineyards planted on St. George rootstock in Lodi, which, Turley notes, has since become the gold standard for Zinfandel in California. Continuing on the winery says Steacy Ranch hails from 1907, and that the Zinfandel vines in this sandy-soiled vineyard are interspersed with some Grenache, Carignane, and Mission varieties as well, all common bedfellows in these classic old California vineyards and add to the distinction of this historic California site. As per normal, the Turley Zins are crafted using 80% used oak, with 80% French and 20% American barrels used, with 20% new wood giving the wine just the right amount of luxurious toast, without taking away the grape’s natural character and helps refine the palate. The farming at Turley’s vineyard sites is all done with organic methods, fermentation is done with native yeasts and the wines are bottled unfined and unfiltered to allow for every nuance to shine through. This bottling is pretty limited, reserved for the mailing list and tasting rooms, but very fairly priced.
($35 Est.) 92 Points, grapelive