| Country: | United States |
| Regions: | California California (Sonoma County) |
| Winery: | Turley |
| Grape Type: | Zinfandel |
| Organic: | Yes |
| Vintage: | 2022 |
| Bottle Size: | 750 ml |
Turley Pesenti Zinfandel is made from 100 percent Zinfandel.
This certified organic estate-owned vineyard was planted in the 1920s on primarily limestone soil. Though the vines are head-trained and dry-farmed, the soil plays the most important role in distinguishing this vineyard on the west side of Paso Robles. The wines have a brightness, with chalk and floral characteristic aromas unique to the site, and to Zinfandel in general.
Review:
-Wine Spectator 93 Points
-Antonio Galloni (Vinous) 94 Points
Chappellet Pritchard Hill Estate Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon is made from 94% Cabernet Sauvignon & 6% Petit Verdot.
Chappellet's Pritchard Hill Cabernet Sauvignon has been, since the beginning of their winemaking career, the most sought after wine of their portfolio. The wine is truly a love letter to the winegrowing potential of Pritchard Hill. The wine was inspired by Bordeaux, and like most left bank Bordeaux, the wine is a blend of predominately Cabernet Sauvignon with remaining amounts other classic Bordeaux blend varieties. The vines grow upon rocky, mountainside vineyards. After harvest and fermentation, the wine was aged for 22 months in 100% new French oak barrels.
Review:
Cristom Pinot Noir Louise Vineyard 2022 is made from 100% Pinot Noir.
Cristom Vineyards was founded in 1992 by the Gerrie family in the Eola-Amity Hills of Oregon's Willamette Valley, farming their east-facing volcanic hillside biodynamically and organically. Their single-vineyard Pinot Noirs, each named for a woman in the family, are Willamette benchmarks.
Louise Vineyard, planted by the Gerrie family in 1993, sits on the slopes immediately around the winery. It gives a woodsy, higher-toned expression of Eola-Amity Hills Pinot Noir — mossy earth, red fruit and Asian spice over a chiseled, age-worthy frame — from the balanced, classically cool 2022 season.
Review:
From a vineyard the Gerrie family planted in 1993 that sits around the winery, the 2022 Pinot Noir Louise Vineyard reveals a beautiful woodsy profile, with notes of mossy earth and higher-toned red fruit shining through, with cranberries, darker red fruits, and Asian spices. It has a chiseled structure, with fine compact tannins, a refreshing lift, and notes of tea leaf on its long finish. It's going to age with grace over the coming 20 years.
Jeb Dunnuck, 96 points
Review:
-Jeb Dunnuck 96 Points
-James Suckling 95 Points
-Decanter World Wine Awards 95 Points
-Eric Guido (Vinous) 94 Points
Our organically farmed high-density Estate parcel sits at the top of the ridge amongst the diverse coastal forest. Although the soil is sandy, there’s a vein of clay in the subsoil that holds winter rain and allows us to dry-farm the vines. The tight spacing keeps the clusters and soil shaded during the summer heat, which allows the fruit to retain all the nuance of the site. The wine produced here has a character - a signature - all to itself and cannot be replicated elsewhere; it's the antithesis of fruity, forward, easy-to-understand Californian Chardonnay. The grapes are small with thick skins, producing a high level of fruit extract, which translates to deep texture and structure in the wine itself. Concentration allied to freshness is the essence of this wine, and it ages beautifully in bottle for ten to twelve years.
The wine’s aromas and flavors are incredibly complex and diverse, akin to citrus oil, preserved lemon, sage, fennel and caraway. The wine is deep, powerful, and layered with oyster shell freshness cutting through the natural density. Lemongrass, spearmint, and grapefruit power the finish, which pulsates with intensity. You could decant this for an hour before serving to hasten its development. Drink between 2025 and 2030. Serve no cooler than 55º F.
Review:
-Jeb Dunnuck 96 Points
-James Suckling 97 Points
Our DuMOL Estate Vineyard is our original high-density vine planting from 2004. It’s organically farmed without irrigation – these vines work hard each season. We make a strict selection for this bottling, one of our flagship wines, so that only three acres of its nine total comprise this bottling; the balance forms the core of Highland Divide. This is the best of the best. The high vine density and exclusively Calera Selection produce a wine with a significant level of both tannin and acidity. This structure is buffered by a deep core of fruit extract, the product of the ripe grape skins themselves, and the essence of the wine. Each vintage can age for many years, and it gradually deepens into a woodsy, truffley, and enveloping wine with grand scale complexity while never relinquishing its inherent brightness.
The wine’s aromas and flavors are akin to black cherry, boysenberry, hibiscus, anise, moss, and juniper. The palate is simultaneously bright yet dark, with mineral drive, violet floral lift, and bay laurel freshness. Tannins and acidity fuse to lengthen these flavors, and the wine finishes with dried herbs and orange zest lift. Great aging potential. Drink between 2025 and 2034 and decant for an hour in its youth to hasten the development.
Review:
-The Wine Independent 97 Points
Liminal WeatherEye Vineyard The Mountain Tower is made from 40% Cabernet Franc, 33% Cabernet Sauvignon and 27% Merlot.
All three of these blocks lie quite close together on the steep north-facing side of WeatherEye. Here, full ripeness is reached while preserving great varietal character and lively acidity.
Elegant and evocative aromas of red and black currants, dark plum, violet, Ugandan chocolate, wild tobacco, crushed vanilla bean, and dried thyme. Suave and poised on the palate, with beautifully complex black and blue fruit compote, crushed wild roses, clean tilled dark earth, and windblown herbs. This wine, though drinking great now, is still gathering power, and will age gracefully for many years to come.
Review:
-International Wine Report 98 Points
Hailing from 1937, these certified organic vines are some of the most unique we’ve ever seen. Just a mile and a half from the Napa border on the Sonoma side of the Mayacamas, located in what is the new Moon Mountain AVA, the vines are planted along steep, contoured terraces. Finding old vineyards is rare enough, but ancient hillside head-trained vines located 1000 feet up? Downright extraordinary.
Review:
"The 2022 Zinfandel Fredericks Vineyard is medium to deep ruby in the glass. It opens slowly but steadily with multifaceted aromas of peach skin, dried red berries, dark spices, wafts of cooling botanicals and a lifted, vibrant floral perfume. The full-bodied palate is suave, concentrated and polished, hiding rustic but gentle tannins and seamless, mineral-tinged acidity with its long, perfumed finish. As with much of the 2022 Turley Zinfandels, this should unwind and come into itself after 3-5 years in bottle and provide more than a decade of enjoyment in the cellar."
- 94 Points Robert Parker
Turley Wine Cellars was founded in Napa Valley by former emergency room physician Larry Turley in 1993. Under the direction of winemaker Tegan Passalacqua, Turley now makes 50 different wines from over 50 vineyards across California, primarily Zinfandel and Petite Syrah, with many vines dating back to the late 1800s. By farming organically and focusing on old vine vineyards of these varieties, Turley aims to both create and preserve California’s unique winemaking culture.
Born in Tennessee and raised in Georgia, Larry has spent the better part of his life on a farm. This being the south, they were primarily tobacco and dairy farms; nevertheless, his respect for the land and its cultivation began at a young age. As an adult, Larry channeled this passion for preservation towards people, studying medicine and working as an emergency room physician. After moving to California in the mid-seventies, Larry came home from the ER one night to discover someone camped on his property. After first driving his motorcycle through the tent (this was, after all, the 1970’s in the “wild wild west”) he met its occupant, John Williams, the soon-to-be winemaker at Spring Mountain. After sharing a glass of wine, they became friends; a few bottles later, they became business partners. Frog’s Leap Winery was begat in 1981, with Larry on a tractor by day and suturing by night.
The winery enjoyed quick success; however, much like Athena originated as an ache in Zeus’ head, the impetus for a smaller, more focused project began to take shape in Larry’s mind. He’d taken a shining to the wines made from Zinfandel & Petite Syrah, growing particularly fond of those made from old vine vineyards. Eventually he sold his half of Frog’s Leap to John and started Turley Wine Cellars in 1993.
Because Larry has never met an old vine vineyard he didn’t like, Turley now makes 47 separate wines from over 50 different vineyards, some with vines that date back to the late 1800’s. Often weak and decaying, these old vine vineyards require extra care and attention in order to restore them to their former glory. After twenty-five years in the emergency room, Larry can now focus his resuscitative skills on the various old vineyards that comprise the wines he loves.
Turley Pesenti Zinfandel is made from 100 percent Zinfandel.
This certified organic estate-owned vineyard was planted in the 1920s on primarily limestone soil. Though the vines are head-trained and dry-farmed, the soil plays the most important role in distinguishing this vineyard on the west side of Paso Robles. The wines have a brightness, with chalk and floral characteristic aromas unique to the site, and to Zinfandel in general.
Review:
-Wine Spectator 93 Points
-Antonio Galloni (Vinous) 94 Points
Turley Zinfandel Buck Cobb is made from 100 percent Zinfandel.
Organically farmed head-trained vines planted at 1500' in the granite and quartz soils of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Primarily savory and red-fruited, with characteristics of black pepper, dried meats and fine-grained tannin texture.
This would be an excellent pairing with wood-fired pizza.
Review:
-Antonio Galloni (Vinous) 92 Points
Joseph Phelps Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon is made from 94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Cabernet Franc, 2% Merlot, 1% Malbec.
A classic Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon with inviting violet, dark fruit, tobacco, subtle baking spice and earthy dried herb aromatics. The palate is filled with expressive black cherry, blackberry and dark plum, hints of spice box and sweet vanilla bean. A focused, concentrated wine with youthful energy and freshness nimbly balanced by supple tannin structure and finesse.
Review:
This wine is lovely in juicy red fruit, dried herb and hints of allspice, the tannin structure firm and giving. Offering refinement and structure, it shows nuances of black currant, cherry and toasted oak. This will do well in the cellar.
Wine Enthusiast Cellar Selection 94 Points
Cavalier Dario Barbaresco Riserva 2017 is made from Nebbiolo.
Barbaresco is Nebbiolo grown in the hills around its namesake village, and the Riserva is its longer-aged expression — held in cellar well beyond the standard bottling so the grape's firm tannins have time to settle into something more supple and savory. Expect the classic Nebbiolo signature: dried rose and red fruit, an earthy, spiced undertone, and the fine-grained grip that makes these wines such natural partners for roasted and braised meats, mushrooms, truffle and aged cheese.
Winery Info: Cavalier Dario is the Piedmont family winery founded in 1968 by Dario Bersano and his wife Giuseppina, in San Marzano Oliveto in the province of Asti. Known by the emblem of the Lion Rampant, the estate passed to Dario's son Roberto, who joined in 1992 and runs it today; in 1998 the family expanded by acquiring Selectvini, uniting two historic houses — Casa Vinicola Cortese (Canelli, 1875) and Casa Vinicola Pistone Luigi (Asti, 1860). Nebbiolo-based Barolo and Barbaresco sit at the top of their range. Barbaresco DOCG is made entirely from Nebbiolo in the Langhe, and the Riserva is aged longer than a standard Barbaresco before release.