Just received an email this morning from George Troquato, the winemaker at Cinnabar Vineyards and Winery, in response to a follow-up email I had sent to him announcing my post yesterday. Among other things, I had inquired the following:

I find myself curious about the story behind the Zinfandel that won the double gold recently. I believe my readers might want to know more about that story, including [this winning zin’s] possibilities for public distribution and sale, if any; the vineyard itself and your decision to replant; the timeline behind the story (i.e., which happened first: the submittal of the zin to the Chronicle competition, or the decision to replant); and whatever else you wish to share. Upon your response, I’ll be happy to write a follow-up story.

It was a thrill, then, to receive Mr. Troquato’s reply so quickly.

“Russ,

Glad to hear you enjoyed the wines that Sarah poured for your event. Regarding the Zinfandel, I asked the owner [Tom Mudd] in 1997 if we could plant some Zin. I grew up in a winemaking family and have fond memories of old Zinfandel vineyards in the Santa Clara Valley. We planted about 1/4 acre next to our Pinot Noir vineyard and made wine for about 3 years. Tom used to say that he was paying homage to my Italian ancestry, although Zinfandel is very Californian. The first two vintages were good with the last vintage, 2003, being the best.[*]

Mr. Troquato didn’t quite respond to my question about the availability of his 2003 Zin. One might assume from that omission that the possibilities are nil; in fact, you can’t currently find any zinfandel wines for purchase on the Cinnabar website, though it’s possible that only Cinnabar “Alchemist Wine Club” members will see this medal winner in their shipments. Nevertheless, the rest of us can expect to enjoy a Cinnabar Zinfandel or two sometime in the future, if Mr. Troquato’s closing statement to me is any indication:

“In the end, it was a great idea for [our Zinfandel grapes to be grown in] an area better suited to earlier-ripening varieties. We still produce Zinfandel but not from the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Thanks!

George Troquato
Winemaker
Cinnabar Vineyards and Winery” 

I can’t help wanting to taste that ‘03 Cinnabar Zin. And there’s nothing quite like a good mystery to fuel my interest. I look forward to solving it at Cinnabar’s new Saratoga Village tasting room, which is slated to open its doors in late April.

~winehiker

*The vintage of the double-gold medal winner I wrote about yesterday.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 30th, 2007 at 1:03 pm and is filed under grape squeezins. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.