I was out in the Old Vine Zinfandel vineyard last week looking for a picture of color change or veraison. As you can see, I found a great picture showing the variable color in the bunch as this process takes place. Soon this bunch will have full color. Some bunches already do. So, then the sulfuring stops and we wait for sugars and flavors to develop.
I was struck by how amazing some of these vines are and thought you might like to see a picture of one and hear a little more about this vineyard. I’m not even sure this picture does justice to the mass of the ancient trunk which looks much more like a plum tree than a typical grape vine. This Old Vine Zinfandel vineyard was planted in 1904 and is in sandy loam soil. In this soil the roots run deep. We have named this vineyard Lizzy James and it is the source for our Old Vine Zinfandel that we just bottled. Lizzy comes from Elizabeth which is our daughter’s middle name(after her great great grandmother on my father’s side) and James comes from our sons middle name (after his great grandfather on my mother’s side). Like this new winery venture, it is the perfect melding of families to create something new and wonderful! And those of you that got to taste the Old Vine Zinfandel know that it is wonderful.
Be sure to double click on the pictures to open them up.
