These old vines barely provide a crop each year. The vineyard is about as old as they come in California with vines dating to the original planting in 1865. When you gaze on the vineyard on a cold Spring day after the vines have been pruned, the thousands of stout, thickly trunked vines are not unlike a amorphous Henry Moore sculpture, arms raised, pleading with the heavens for enough water to grow for another year. This vineyard is farmed with simplicity: pruning, plowing, and finally picking at the perfect time determined by our winemaker. Every year the wines are different and a revelation. We do not blend this wine with other Zinfandels in our cellar to make a consistent product. EASTON Fiddletown Zinfandel is always 100% Zinfandel from the Rinaldi Vineyard. We approach making the wine from this vineyard in much the same way a good winemaker would approach a grand cru vineyard in Burgundy. We want to reveal what the fruit has to offer each year in all of its purity; not obscure it. This 2012 has thick brambly blackberry fruit with pepper, anise, clove, and other exotic spices. Yields are always incredibly low at about 2 tons per acre. Harvest was on October 7th, 13th, and 30th. Fat and mouth-filling with great persistence on the palate. Like all our EASTON Zinfandels, this wine was aged in exclusively French oak. The 2012 vintage will hold well for 5-10 years.

14.5% by volume; 3.58 pH; 6.0 gm./liter total acidity