The grapes we choose for our 2015 Buehler Vineyards Napa Valley Zinfandel are a mix of those off our estate vineyards and grapes from other select Napa Valley high quality, low-yielding vineyards. Dry-farmed for over 28 years, our 4.5 acre estate block consists of mature forty-one year-old vines which typically give us around 2.5 tons/acre of beautiful hillside Zinfandel fruit. Interspersed among the head-trained vines are a handful of Petite Sirah vines representing perhaps 5% of the total vines in this block. A traditional field companion to Zinfandel in preprohibition California vineyards, Petite Sirah contributes pepper, color, and tannin structure to the wine. The 2015 Napa Valley harvest delivered an early, high quality Zinfandel crop that left us wishing for more of a good thing. After a warm, early spring, the cool May weather interrupted fruit set and the resulting lighter clusters translated to a smaller than normal crop. As with most early harvests, the late October rains were welcomed since all grapes had long been picked and were safely fermenting away at the winery. Our Zinfandel was aged for 12 months in a combination of French and American oak barrels, 20% of which were new. At this level of ?new wood?, the up-front endearing quality of Zinfandel can assert itself. Aromas of a briar patch on a hot summer day carry over to the palate and are carried in a mouth-filling, deeply layered, juicy package. The wine was crafted for immediate enjoyment but for those who enjoy a more complex wine displaying some bottle-aged character, aging for another two to three years is a good option.
