Martinelli, 'Vigneto di Evo' Zinfandel, Russian River Valley, Sonoma, California, 2021

Overview of the Wine
The Martinelli Family has been growing grapes and making wine in the Russian River Valley since the late 1880s. As 5th generation stewards of some of the finest vineyards in the region, they’re proud to continue this legacy of hands-on farming, bringing decades of experience to everything they do.

Their primary goal has always been hand-crafting quality wines that are born in their estate vineyards. All of their grapes are Estate grown, allowing us to use only their favorite blocks for each vineyard designated wine. They have a commitment to quality and have never offered for sale a wine that they felt did not live up to the reputation and expectations of its label. They also try to maintain a sense of consistency with each vintage, while still allowing the true nature of the vineyard to shine through. These wines are limited production and each vineyard is hand farmed very carefully, producing only the finest quality fruit.

Grape / Blend
Zinfandel

Origin
Russian River Valley, Sonoma, California

Winemaker's Tasting Note
Vigneto Di Evo Zinfandel is a barrel-blend from select Martinelli single vineyard zinfandel sites: Jackass, Vellutini, Lolita and Giuseppe & Luisa. This bottling is named for Evo Martinelli, who was raised on Martinelli Road. He was Lee Sr.’s first cousin, the son of Fred Martinelli. Evo gave Lee Sr. one of his first jobs out of the vineyard and instilled the importance of going to college in him as a young man.

2021 was the driest year on record since they started keeping records 127 years ago. It was also the third year of drought conditions for Sonoma County. Contrary to these conditions, the summer was relatively cool and started two weeks later than the previous year. The drought conditions did bring ripeness to each of our varieties at just about the same time. By the end of the first week, we had 40% of the total tonnage in the winery. This included Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Zinfandel from both Fort Ross-Seaview and Russian River Valley. Despite being a very compact harvest, small clusters and berry size have yielded exceptional quality which makes 2021 a standout vintage.

Inviting aromas of juicy raspberry, black cheery and white peach hit your nose with the first swirl in your glass. Lively upon entry with flavors of ripe strawberry and sweet leather are followed by firm tannins and lasting pomegranate finish.

90 Points - CellarTracker

Product size: 750ml