Ravenswood Lodi Old Vine Zinfandel

 An old favourite of mine is this Californian Zinfandel; a robust and full-bodied luscious red.  This is actually a blend of Zinfandel and  Petite Sirah, the fomer being the dominant grape at 76% means that it is complying with USA labelling laws by referring to itself as a single varietal.
 It has a nearly purple colour to it with a nose of juicy plums and blueberries with some spice and vanilla evident. It spends 18months in oak with 30% of it New and the balance being French. It is a big wine with buckets of soft fruit flavours yet the wood ageing brings plenty of complexity to it. At €14.99 this is an introduction to their range, they strive to make full-bodied reds with plenty of"zinfindelity" as they call it themselves. They are actually running a campaign at the moment called "No Wimpy Wines" which you can sign up to on facebook, this is a campaign to seek out "full-throttle, full-flavoured wines"!
 Ravenswood started up as a garage operation by a guy called Joel Peterson known affectionately as the "Godfather of Zin" . With a degree in microbiology he dabbled in wine-making as a hobby. It was in 1976 that he revealed two single vineyard Zinfandels to the world. With the help of Reed Foster who looked after the financial end of things, Ravenswood was born.

"The Godfather of Zin"

The name Ravenswood comes from a story Joel tells of his first ever vintage . The story goes that he arrived at Dry Creek on a wet and miserable day to collect the barrells of grapes just picked for his debut Zinfandel only to find they had fallen over and the grapes scattered everywhere. as he collected them all back up again, 2 ravens watched overhead cawing. It had started raining everywhere except in the small patch where he worked and as the sun came out a double rainbow set in the sky. He believed the ravens to be watching over him and cheering him on so they have become the company mascot ever since. After then seeing the opera Lucia de Lammermoor where he recognised a lot of himself in the main character, Lord Ravenswood. "All that passionate beauty and madness captured perfectly how I felt about my crazy hopes for a winery" Joel was quoted as saying, Ravenswood was born.
 Whatever way the name came about he is the biggest Zinfandel producer in the world and claims to be there for every bottle produced. He works with over 100 Californian growers to get the perfect grapes for each range and with 3 years behind him he manages to produce consistently super wines that are equally as delicious on their own as with food and definitely worth checking out .

Some overly-enthusiastic Ravenswood drinker!

 Strangely enough the logo (or totem as Joel refers to it) made up of three intertwined ravens which was designed by Californian artist, David Lance Goins is apparently the most tattooed  symbol in the wine business!! In fact so much so that the winery promises free-tasting for the rest of your life if you visit the winery and show your tattoo to them... it might just be worth it!

Till Next Time
Clare

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