Peterson Zinfandel Bradford Mountain 2004

Winemaker's Notes:

Zinfandel Half Bottles are the perfect wine for your summer time picnics !Tasting Notes:Bradford Mountain wines come with their own set of rules. The mountain soil infuses a solid structure, high acids and a mineral quality that some describe as edgy into every grape. Our 2003Bradford Mountain Zin plays strictly by these rules. Freshly crushed raspberries fuse with creamy vanilla and spicy black pepper to create aromas so enticing that resistance is impossible. The taste lives up to the aromas allure and charms you with intense and diverse flavors. Softening tannins caress rich ripe raspberry and juicy blackberry flavors forming a brambly character. Spicy white and black pepper encases the full mouthfeel, with that edgy mineral essence filling out the finish. Obtaining the perfect balance, this Zin matches with a myriad ofcuisines and special evenings, too.Vineyard:Bradford Mountain Estate Vineyard, on the western edge of Dry Creek Valley, is 32 acres on the very top of the mountain (elevation 1000 feet) planted in the 1980s. Great pains were taken to search for the proper varietals and clones to plant in the mineral-rich mountain soil. Well-drained, red-clay soil, combined with sunny days and cool nights produce small, intensely flavored grapes with a higher acidity and a lower pH than valley fruit. These grapes are picked at a higher sugar to achieve the perfect balance for exceptional wines.Fred's Vintaged View:I fell in love with mountain wines and mountain vineyards in 1979 when I first laid eyes on Mount Eden Vineyards in the Santa Cruz Mountains. I carried that devotion to mountain wines with me when I moved up to Dry Creek Valley in 1983 to develop a vineyard and build my house on Bradford Mountain.The Bradford Mountain Zinfandel comes from a small, gnarly block of Zinfandel planted before 1900. With the exception of a few old Petite Sirah vines in the block, its pretty much all Zinfandel. Unlike the benchland Zins, the mountain Zin has a peppery quality and more black fruit character (think wild blackberry). Im fond of saying that this is wine with incredible Zin fruit on the palate and a structure like a great cabernet. Though few Zinfandels can stand up to more than a decade of bottle aging, this is certainly one of them and will reward those folks with the proper storage and patience to lay it down.Technical Data:Composition: 100% Zinfandel, Bradford Mtn VinyardAppellation: Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County