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More wines available from Seghesio Family Vineyards
750ml
Bottle:
$19.94
$20.80
Bright and focused with notes of lemon curd and crushed stone on the nose that carry through to the palate. The wine...
750ml
Bottle:
$19.94
Vibrant citrus and delicate floral notes lead to a wine that is lively, persistent, and textured on the palate with...
750ml
Bottle:
$38.39
Coming from the Dry Creek Valley in Sonoma, the 2019 Zinfandel Cortina is a rocking Zinfandel that plays in the more...
750ml
Bottle:
$31.31
$34.79
Notes of ripe blackberry, baking spices and underbrush fill the bouquet. A rich entry of plum and cherry compote give...
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Winery
Seghesio Family Vineyards
Vintage: 2012
2012 has, so far been a positive year for wineries around the world. While it may be a little too early to speak of the wines being made in the northern hemisphere, European and North American wineries have already begun reporting that their harvesting season has been generally very good, and are predicting to continue with the kind of successes they saw in 2011. However, 2012 has been something of a late year for France, due to unpredictable weather throughout the summer, and the grapes were ripening considerably later than they did in 2011 (which was, admittedly, an exceptionally early year). French wineries are claiming, though, that this could well turn out to be advantageous, as the slow ripening will allow the resulting wines to express more flavour and features of the terroir they are grown in.
The southern hemisphere has seen ideal climatic conditions in most of the key wine producing countries, and Australia and New Zealand particularly had a superb year, in particular with the Bordeaux varietal grapes that grow there and which love the humidity these countries received plenty of. Also enjoying a fantastic year for weather were wineries across Argentina and Chile, with the Mendoza region claiming that 2012 will be one of their best vintages of the past decade. Similar claims are being made across the Chilean wine regions, where Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon had an especially good year. These two grape varietals also produced characterful wines on the coastal regions of South Africa this year.
Varietal: Zinfandel
Zinfandel varietal grapes are an interesting species whose exact origins are unknown. However, they have genetic equivalents in both Croatia and Puglia, where they are still grown, despite most of Zinfandel's vineyards being in the New World. These thin-skinned grapes thrive most healthily in warm climates, where the fairly delicate grapes are not prone to shrivel and dry up on the vine in intense heat. As such, valley regions all over the New World are often full of these dark and tightly bunched grapes which produce a lovely, light to medium bodied wine which varies greatly depending on the terroir it is grown in, and just how warm the climatic conditions over the vines are. Indeed, Zinfandel is renowned for being a grape varietal which can really show off the skill and expertise of the vintners who grow them, as the time of harvesting and the way in which they are processed (as well as the condition of the soil they are grown in) all have a strong effect on the flavor of the wine they produce.
Region: California
California as a wine producing region has grown in size and importance considerably over the past couple of centuries, and today is the proud producer of more than ninety percent of the United States' wines. Indeed, if California was a country, it would be the fourth largest producer of wine in the world, with a vast range of vineyards covering almost half a million acres. The secret to California's success as a wine region has a lot to do with the high quality of its soils, and the fact that it has an extensive Pacific coastline which perfectly tempers the blazing sunshine it experiences all year round. The winds coming off the ocean cool the vines, and the natural valleys and mountainsides which make up most of the state's wine regions make for ideal areas in which to cultivate a variety of high quality grapes.
Country: United States
Whilst there are several strains of native grape varietals in the United States, it was the introduction of the European species which prompted the country to begin producing wines on a large scale. Over the past few centuries, experimentation and cross-breeding has produced great successes in regards to the quality and suitability of the fruit grown in states such as California, Oregon, Washington and New York, and the past few decades have seen New World wines from the United States reach much higher standards. Arguably the finest United States wines have always come out of California, where the climate and terrroir is most suitable for fine wine production. The masterful blending of classic grape varietals such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, amongst others including Syrah and Chardonnay, have had world beating results in recent years, prompting many to suggest that there has never been a better time for buying and drinking United States wines.
Appellation: Sonoma Valley
The Valley of the Moon, as Sonoma Valley is widely known, has been one of the United States' most important and widely recognized wine regions for well over a century now, and upholds a firm belief in quality over quantity when it comes to the produce that is made in the dozens of wineries which make up the region. Helped by blazing Californian sunshine alongside mineral rich volcanic soils and geothermal springs, the grape varietals which grow in Sonoma Valley end up being packed full of fascinating flavors and aromas which are then transferred to the bottle. The past decade has seen the region expand more than ever before, and with more favorable weather conditions and a growing reputation for excellence, the wineries of Sonoma Valley are set to continue doing what they do best: making high quality, flavorful and characterful American wines.