Past Wines
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Featured Wine
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Tasting Notes
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Technical Data
Tofanelli Vineyards -2006 Napa Valley Estate Zinfandel2006 Napa Valley Estate CharbonoThis featured wine is no longer available for purchase on Indie Winemakers. Join our Mailing List (see at left) to be notified when a new featured wine is offered. |
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This week, Indie Winemakers is offering hand-crafted artisan wines produced by Tofanelli Family Vineyards. Both the Zinfandel and Charbono are from the same old vine (planted in 1929) vineyard managed by the Tofanelli's for 3 generations. Pick one or try both! Indie Winemakers has obtained a very small allocation for this featured wine. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did.
About the Vineyard
Tofanelli Vineyards has been family owned and farmed since 1929. Given the reputation of the vines and the limited production of the winery, Tofanelli vineyards sells some fruit to other wineries such as Turley, Spottswoode, Schrader, Orin-Swift, Neyers and Duckhorn.
Consisting mostly of Bale Series, gravelly loam, it drains well and doesn't retain nutrients. The effect is natural devigoration that results in smaller, more concentrated clusters of fruit. Wines produced from this site are organically grown and dry farmed. Rootstock includes St. George, 1103 Paulsen and 110 Rupestrus.
Summary of Tasting Event
The 05 Zinfandel was tasted on December 13, 2008 by a panel of 8 tasters in a blind tasting format and paired with Crown Roast Of Pork With Wild Rice Stuffing.
These magnificent dry farmed vines are a living testament to the unique combination of this old Zinfandel clone grafted to St. George rootstock. The result of this dry farmed effort is a powerfully built old vine zin. The initial taste is packed with pepper and rich raspberry jam. We found the wine to have a good structure of acid and fruit tannin on the finish.
We did not have the Charbono for the blind tasting. Dont forget to allow the wine to breathe and open up (maybe a splash decant) before consuming. This Zinfandel can be cellared for 2-5 years. The pork went well with this Zinfandel but the wild rice stuffing really brought out the best in the pairing. The Madiera wine sauce poured over the pork and rice also added nice acidity.
| Wine Profile Style | ||
| Light Bodied | Medium Bodied | Full Bodied |
| Drink Now (0-3 yrs) | Will Age (3-5 yrs) | Will Age (8-10 yrs) |
| Slightly Fruity | Fruity | Very Fruity |
| No Tannins | Softer Tannins | Heavier Tannins |
| Low Acidity | Medium Acidity | High Acidity |
| No Residual Sugar Dry | Off Dry | Sweet |
Tofanelli Vineyards -2006 Napa Valley Estate Zinfandel2006 Napa Valley Estate Charbono
This featured wine is no longer available for purchase on Indie Winemakers. Join our Mailing List (see at left) to be notified when a new featured wine is offered. |
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Indie Winemakers' Tasting Notes
Our mission is to provide unbiased opinions of the wine being offered. These notes come from up to 10 guests who tasted this wine in a blind tasting format (wine is concealed so their identity is unknown). Why this format? Tasting blind completely throws out any hype associated with a certain winery, style, price point, etc; it forces the taster to accept what is in the glass without any predetermined notions. Our guests utilize Robert Parker's Glossary of Wine Terms for their comments for consistency purposes. In addition, we utilize the wine aroma wheel to enhance one’s ability to describe the complexity of wine flavor. Notes are posted on this wine during the tasting to ensure they accurately reflect the impressions.
Tasting Notes
- SS: Very smooth, coats your mouth. Dark color and pepper nose. Tasted raspberry. Really smoothed out after a little time in the glass.
- RLA: Cherry and cedar nose and taste. Full-body but smooth, especially after some time in the glass.
- BM: Very smooth wine. Big bodied with a very long finish. Let it air for a while and you get a smoother wine.
- LM: Very big wine flavor and arouma to begin. Almost too strong to begin with. This needs time to air. Smooth and buttery in the mouth, I found cherry and cedar in the nose. Very long finish.
- MA: This wine has loads of raspberry and a hint of cedar. The aromas lead to an explosion of pure fruit and pepper in the mouth, backed by a firm structure. The essence of this wine continues over the palate with more fruit on the finish.
Tofanelli Vineyards -2006 Napa Valley Estate Zinfandel2006 Napa Valley Estate CharbonoThis featured wine is no longer available for purchase on Indie Winemakers. Join our Mailing List (see at left) to be notified when a new featured wine is offered. |
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Wine Technical Data |
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| Blend | 100% Zinfandel |
| Appelation | 100% Tofanelli and DiGiulio Ranch Vineyard, Napa Valley |
| Harvest Dates | Handpicked September 22 & 29, and October 2, 2006 |
| Yeast | None, native wild yeast on grape skins |
| Fermentation | 4 days with 2 punchdowns/day |
| Aging / Cooperage | 20 months in French oak, 25% new |
| Alcohol | 15.9% by volume |
| Irrigation | none - dry farmed |
Winemaker's Tasting Notes - 06 Zinfandel
Leaping out of the glass with notes of black cherry, candied apple, raspberry jam, orange zest and cola nut, rounded out with hints of cedar, black tea and cigar box, this Zin coats the palate gently with supple, brambly fruit concentration. Sophisticated, layered and well-balanced, the wine’s natural acidity marries perfectly with the fine oak tannins that lend weight and length to the mouth feel. Pairs nicely with well-ripened hard cheeses such as French Cantal.
Winemaker's Tasting Notes - 06 Charbono
In addition to being extremely dark and deep, the aromas and flavors of this exotic wine combine distinctive aspects of blueberry compote, brioche, hazelnut, sweet tobacco, allspice, leather and wet granite. Mouth-filling and very inviting, its finely-grained tannins conjure plush black velvet. This wine is fantastic with food, and will age graciously for up to 15 years. Pairs deliciously with soft, fragrant cheeses such as Italian Dolce Gorganzola.
Vintage Description
We had a cool wet spring in 2006 which gave me concern due to a high percentage of spoilage organisms like boytritis and phomopsis. As an organic farmer, given the potential problems, vigilance was my best tool. My mantra was “no surprises.” To that end, much time was spent among the vines during the growing season. Balance in the vineyard equals balance in the bottle! Fruit thinning and canopy management (removing leaves to encourage air flow and light) were crucial viticultural practices for the vintage. As I recall, mild fall weather helped me breathe a bit easier, and my decisions to harvest were based on flavors instead of impending rain!
Allow me to expound a little on grape flavors. Because I do very little manipulation at the winery, it is extremely important that I capture the essence of the vineyard at the time of harvest. What do I look for? Varietal information of course (if it’s zinfandel, it should taste like zinfandel), but also more subtle notes of acidity, tannin, and a certain depth of flavor that speaks of the vineyard itself. All that, from one berry? Well, in a word, no. During the course of the harvest, I taste (and eat) an uncountable number of berries. By the time harvest is over, I will have had quite my fill of grapes!
Compared to the time spent in the vineyard, the winemaking process is relatively short. The fruit was picked early in the day, brought to the winery and de-stemmed into small 240 gallon fermenters. No sulfites were added at this time so an active wild yeast culture was retained on the grape skins. After a cool rest period, spontaneous fermentation began. Manual punch downs (stirring the pot!) twice daily broke up the floating grape skins (called must) for color and flavor extraction. After all the fermentable sugars were gone (14 to 16 days), the must was gently pressed to extract the resulting wine which was then aged in small oak barrels.
After 20 months of barrel age the wines were bottled and allowed to rest for an additional 5 months before release to you.