The
Wine Experience 
Wine of the Week!
St. Francis "Old Vines" Zinfandel 2005 $23  
Zinfandel is one of our favorite wines, especially when it’s time for grilling. That’s why, with summer coming, our wine of the week is St. Francis 2005 Old Vines Zinfandel.
This is a fruity, lush, intense and overall exceptional Zin. The old vines make a difference you can taste.
With vines about a hundred years old, St. Francis produces grapes with highly concentrated flavors and the winemaking gets the most out of them. The wine bursts with the great fruit flavors of zinfandel, like boysenberry and jammy plum.
Then there’s an almost smoky spiciness and hint of peppery taste that makes Zin so barbecue friendly. When you add in a layer of woodiness and the mild vanilla of oak aging you have a wine layered with tastiness.
St. Francis is known for big red wines and the Old Vines Zin is always one of their best. At about twenty three dollars there’s a lot of big taste in the bottle… a can’t miss choice for our wine of the week.
Pop the Cork™.
Wine on the Radio – June 27, 2008
Winemaker’s Notes and Comments
These vines are over a century old, and among the Zinfandel are a few plantings of Petit Syrah and Alicante Bouchet vines. Both vineyards lie within two miles of the St. Francis estate, and their production has since been augmented by that of three other old-vine Zinfandel vineyards for which the search continues.
St. Francis Winery & Vineyards, located in the heart of Sonoma Valley, produces big, bold, full-bodied wines that deliver on flavor. Each wine is produced from 100% hand-picked Sonoma County fruit and is a direct expression of our winemaking philosophy of “maximum extraction, minimal intervention."
This distinctive wine, clearly in the "old style," is remarkable in its intensity. The nearly pungent aromas of brambleberries, chocolate and rose petals unfold on a palate of opulently rich and seductive fruit flavors characterized by great concentration and depth, with an alcohol level not immediately evident beneath the fruit density. The distinct spice and oak notes carry into the finish, which is nearly endless.
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please remember that you may think differently. A particular wine
may be your favorite and not on our list. Well, don't stop buying
it because of that. In fact, you may want to email
us and let us know about it. These are our opinions but our
FIRST recommendation is to go by your own palate.
A couple of other thoughts . . . first, prices
are approximate. They'll vary. Second, different vintages mean
different grapes and different tastes so our recommendation for
a 2000 Merlot may not hold for 2001.
And lastly, we remind you to drink responsibly!
Now, all that said, here is a summary of links to our suggestions.
Find one (or more) and pop the cork!
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