Turley Del Barba Zinfandel 2021

Despite the overwhelming number of Zinfandel producers in the U.S., the MVP of carrying the varietal’s reputation may very well belong to Larry Turley,who has spent the last thirty years in California dedicating his days to preserving and furthering Zinfandel’s cause. So much so that since the co-founder of Frog’s Leap Winery first left to start his own winery in 1993, he has built a portfolio that includes 47 wines across 50 vineyards with 29 of them dedicated to the Zin varietal!

Today, his protege, winemaker Tegan Passalacqua, (a noted Zinfandel and Petite Sirah specialist in his own regard), is the man tasked with overseeing the entire winemaking operation. On top of that, Tegan and his wife started their own brand, Sandlands concentrating on making lesser championed wines. Sound like a lot? You don’t even know. Wine Spectator pointed out that in the 2017 vintage alone, Tegan made 49 different wines from 13 different counties in California under the Turley label, and another dozen wines for Sandlands.

Turley’s Del Barba new release is a knockout edition to a hall-of-fame lineup. It’s a wine that is new because the fruit used to go into the Duarte Zinfandel, but now this is a straight single-vineyard. . Contra Costa is a delta where the San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers meet, and these head-trained vines are planted in deep dehli blow sand, made up of decomposed granite coming down from the Sierra Mountains. The resulting wine embodies the best the delta has to offer: silken textures, ultra fine tannin, and dark saline fruits. This will be a great wine for the next 15-20 years, easy.