Tegan Passalacqua has developed quite the following since leaving Turley Vineyards in 2010.  His passion and experience with Zinfandel qualifies him to work with the fruit from such a distinctive parcel.  The Kirschenmann Vineyard in Lodi is planted with pre-prohibition vines on their native rootstock, which are head-trained and dry-farmed organically.  These 100+ year old vines harken back to the origin of California Zinfandel, and seeing them staggered along these granitic sandlands is an almost other-worldly sight.  

The wine itself screams forward with flair and elegance, bursting from the glass with red cherry, cranberry jelly, and candied rose petals.  It assertively contradicts the new-world over-extracted style that has given some California wine a bad rap, instead grabbing ahold of your senses and showing you the true roots of this region.  At once charming and bold, this is a wine that will please both lovers of cerebral old-world wines and lavish California reds. 

Grape: 100% Zinfandel planted in 1915

Viticulture: Sustainable

Soils: Silica-rich white sand 

Pairings: Spice-crusted Filet Mignon, Warm Beet Salad with Toasted Pistachios