Old Soul Old Vine Zinfandel 2022

Cellar for up to 10 years. Decant for up to an hour before serving. Old Vine Zinfandel is a gorgeous purple-red in the glass, with a thick nose of cassis, blackberry jam and freshly baked fruit pie. It is a Zinfandel-dominated blend, with smaller portions of Petite Sirah, Pinot Noir and Malbec. All were harvested from estate-owned vineyards in California’s Lodi appellation, which is nestled between the Sierra Nevada mountain range and San Francisco Bay. Oak Ridge is a California winery with Italian heritage. It was built in 1934 by Angelo Maggio, and has now been passed on to his grandson Rudy, and Rudy’s three daughters. While the Maggio family began as grape growers, it was Rudy who brought the winery into the 21st century, when he began to produce wines under the Maggio name. Now, it is truly a generation-spanning business, spread over 2,500 hectares within the Lodi AVA. The Old Vine Zinfandel is a ripe, velvety wine, bursting with flavours of jammy fruits, black tea, dried herbs and toasted nuts. It has a syrupy, molasses-like texture, with an excellent acidic structure and soft tannins. The fruits were aged for 10 months in a mixture of French and American oak before bottling, adding an oaky backbone to every mouthful. Consider pairing this wine with soft cheese, barbecued meats, or a smokey tomato soup.

Price: £14.45 from 8wines UK