Zinfandel “Home Ranch” Alexander Valley 2018 – Seghesio

The grapes to produce the Zinfandel “Home Ranch” Alexander Valley Seghesio were hand harvested and sorted as clusters and then as berries before being transferred to small open-top fermenters. The grapes were inoculated with yeast selected from the same vineyard. Fermentation lasted an average of nine days with daily punch-downs by hand. The wine was then moved to 20% new French oak barrels and 25% concrete tanks, as well as neutral French and American oak, for malolactic fermentation followed by 14 months of ageing.

The estate vineyard in Alexander Valley was planted in 1895 alongside the family home. The soils are composed of clay and clay loam with underlying layers of basalt, sandstone and volcanic rock. The low nutrient level of the clay and the shallow topsoil force the vines to produce more concentrated fruit. The Seghesio viticultural team work the vineyard with willow switches tipping the canes to drive growth into the vine’s crown, providing shade when the canes droop late in the season. Both a green harvest and a veraison thin are carried out.

For over a century, the Seghesio family has played an integral role in the evolution of the region’s viticulture. The winery was established in 1895, when Italian immigrant Edoardo Seghesio planted his first Zinfandel vines in what is now Seghesio’s ‘Home Ranch’ vineyard in Alexander Valley. Edoardo and his wife Angela continued growing vines during the Prohibition years, and were the only winery in the region to survive that era. Seghesio’s reputation for world class Zinfandel was cemented under the guidance of third generation Pete Seghesio and his cousin Ted Seghesio in the 1980s. Italian consultant winemaker Alberto Antonini’s influence can be seen in the juicy, approachable style of Zinfandel that has become Seghesio’s hallmark. Seghesio owns 120 hectares of sustainably-farmed vineyards across several renowned appellations in Sonoma, including Dry Creek Valley, Alexander Valley and Russian River Valley.