Navarro Vineyards/Zinfandel and Late Harvest/Great Food And Wines

We have another great feature for you!Today we will travel into the Anderson Valley and visit with Navarro Vineyards!We will feature a couple different vintages of Zinfandel and a late harvest wine.First let's check out their website and a little background on this fabled winery from Anderson Valley. Navarro Vineyards tasting room is open daily from 9 AM to 5 PM in the winter and 9 AM to 6 PM in the summer. There is no charge for tasting and no reservations are required. We do not have regularly scheduled tours, however, with advance notice, tours can be arranged for small groups. Picnic tables are available in the summertime on the tasting room deck and in the adjacent vineyard under a grape trellis. We have simple picnic supplies in our deli case including artisan cheeses and locally smoked salmon or we can direct you to local stores where you can purchase more elaborate picnic supplies if you have not brought your own from home. One of the phenomena we've observed in wine production is that the first grapes harvested frequently make the best wine. This seems counter-intuitive as the ripening period for the earliest picking is the shortest. When we harvest Pinot Noir from the same microclimate, for example, we can frequently explain why a field of vines ripened their fruit sooner than adjacent fields. Vines with a light crop ripen faster than similar vines with a heavier crop. Healthy, virus-free vines ripen their crop quicker than vines that are virused and weak. Both of these conditions, a high ratio of leaves to fruit and lack of viruses, are also related to superior wine quality, which may explain why the first grapes can be the best. We have opened the 2014 Zinfandel and the 2015 Zinfandel. Navarro Vineyards produces Zinfandel from grapes grown mostly by two experienced growers, Al Tollini and Ed Berry. Since the youngest vines they farm are almost seventy years old, all the Zin Navarro produces certainly qualifies for "old vine" status. Each spring, we evaluate the wines from the prior vintage and in 2012, 2014 and 2015 the best Zinfandel wine was produced from the first Zinfandel grapes harvested from these two first-rate growers. Ed Berry's vines, planted in 1948, have good vigor and typically have a light crop which partially explains why this field is the first to ripen. The grapes were destemmed into two five-ton temperature-controlled fermentors where the skins were gently shoved into the fermenting must by hand to keep the tannins supple. After aging for eleven months in seasoned oak barrels, the wine was bottled unfiltered to preserve its strength. Gold Medal winner. We have a few courses to enjoy,and will not leave out dessert today! The '13 was picked a month earlier than the '12 with substantially more acidity and slightly more grape sugars. We decided to spotlight the grape's rare but desirable acidity by encouraging the fermentation to convert the extra sugars into alcohol, leaving the wine with 4% less sweetness and 52% more acidity than the 2012. The '12 is rich and unctuous, whereas the '13 flaunts a scintillating yin-yang of sweetness counter balanced with acidity. Both vintages produced exceptional wines with multiple Gold medals. Stock up since no Cluster Select Gewürztraminer was harvested in 2014. Gold Medal winner. Best of Class. Watch the seasons unfold with a tour of Navarro Vineyards. In spring the buds swell and burst out in leaf on the vines. The cover crop is abuzz with beneficial insects that enjoy the mustard flowers and wild calendulas as much as we do. By summer you can get an insider perspective on Navarro's chicken tractor and babydoll sheep projects which help minimize our use of fossil fuels. You may notice the steady click-clang of bottling in the winery as we get ready for the harvest. As the grapes ripen, the air becomes heavy with fermenting juice and the vines turn a luminous gold. Throughout the year we will be offering tours for Navarro's friends twice daily at 10:30 AM and 2:00 PM. Tours last about one hour and are limited to 15 people. You are welcome to bring your own picnic or pick up some local cheeses and meats from our deli case while you enjoy a glass of wine at Navarro's picnic tables after the tour. It's time,let's sit down and relax with a glass of wine from Navarro Vineyards.click on the link below and join us!Cheers! Click here and join us as we enjoy the wines of Navarro Vineyards .