Wednesday Wines – Episode 167 – A staggeringly serious Zinfandel

2017 Barndiva, Sonoma County Zinfandel, California www.virginwines.co.uk

The pricing structure is as follows –

List Price £25.99 per bottle

6 bottle case £89.94 / £14.99 per bottle

12 bottle case £155.88 / £12.99 per bottle

16 bottle case £191.84 / £11.99 per bottle

On Tuesday, the 11th of July, this wine will go on sale, and you MUST buy as much as you can afford.  I first wrote it up in my old Daily Mail column in March 2021 when it was priced at £25.  This was my tasting note – “Made by Barndiva, a famous ‘farm-to-table’ restaurant in Healdsburg, this is an astonishing wine with immense class, a huge black-fruited core, and it tastes like a 50 quid red!  The grapes come from a secret source, and judging by the flavour, I would imagine that it is a superstar vineyard, and only 1064 cases were made!”

As it turns out, a parcel of cases was not sold in 2021, and I had the great fortune of re-tasting this wine last week.  I have also found out more about its origins.  It is a blend of Zin from three famous appellations in California – Alexander Valley, Dry Creek Valley and Russian River Valley.  It was hand-harvested, hand-sorted, and it saw nine months in 60% American oak (12% new) and 40% old French oak.  It is now six years old and utterly mesmerising – at its peak, fully mellow, compellingly perfumed and silky-smooth.

But most importantly, what I previously described as £50-worth of flavour is now reduced to £11.99 if you buy 16 bottles.  If you don’t want all 16, go halves with a friend!  This is, hands down, the finest red wine for summer parties and barbecues this year.  Spread the word because wines of this calibre with this price tag do not come around very often!