Ravenswood Winery1929 visitors
| The picture has changed a bit since 1976. Following the original inspiration of wineries like Ravenswood, California has now shirked its once-wimpy status to a fault. But the more things change around our Sonoma headquarters, the more they stay the same. In this brave new enologically altered world, Ravenswood continues to set a stubborn standard for complex, balanced, uncompromising wine that captures everything a vineyard has to offer (and, we might add, nothing more). | Sonoma, CA
Phone: (888) 669-4679
Website: http://www.ravenswood-wine.com
Appellation: Sonoma Coast
Map to Ravenswood Winery
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Zinfandel
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2005 Zinfandel
Napa Valley
As Sonoma chauvinists, we admit that we sometimes evince a parochial attitude toward our primary rival. Occasionally, however, we're forced to recognize that there's a reason why N ... moreapa is America's most famous wine region. Case in point: Ravenswood Napa Valley Zinfandel, which displays the sort of savoire-faire associated with aristocracy. Combining a rich quotient of Napa's polished raspberry-cedar character with a tasteful amount of opulent French vanilla, this wine has the exquisite balance that comes with superior breeding. Would that all scions of the upper crust could bestow such beautiful harmony.
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Zinfandel
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2005 Zinfandel
Sonoma County
It's been more than twenty years since we began blending fruit from our county's historic Zinfandel regions — chiefly Dry Creek and Sonoma Valleys — to create this stylish wine ... more, now considered our flagship bottling. Deep, dark, full and spicy, it exudes the power and complexity of its old-vine origins (including Carignane and Petite Sirah, Zinfandel's traditional field companions) but also brims with muscular balance and Zin's famous berry fruit, epitomizing the robust appeal of our favorite varietal. If you need to know why Sonoma County is renowned as the home of California's heritage grape, look no further.
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Zinfandel
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2005 Zinfandel
Lodi County
Hard by the sandy shores of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River delta, the agricultural town of Lodi is home to a lot of old Zinfandel vines. It's considered a warm region, but its lo ... morecation, directly in line with the Golden Gate, brings daily afternoon breezes that soften the summer temperatures. Combine this with ancient vines in alluvial soil where roots grow very deep, and you've got a formula for ripe, lush Zin that's also concentrated and intense. Soft, round, spicy and jammy with voluptuous overtones of plums and blueberries, this wine lives large — and irresistible — in the here and now.
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Zinfandel
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2005 Zinfandel Teldeschi
Dry Creek Valley
Winemaker Joel Peterson has been sourcing grapes from the Teldeschi family since the 1970s. Some of the vines planted on this Dry Creek Valley ranch are 90 years old. Zinfandel w ... moreas Lorenzo Teldeschi's favorite, so most of the grapes grown are still Zin, but Carignane and Petite Sirah are also included in this classic Italian-Californian field blend. Dry Creek is renowned for its Zins and this robustly elegant, claret-like wine is one example why. Powerful and muscular, it's packed with rich black-fruit flavors, dense tannins and lively acid.
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Zinfandel
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2004 Belloni Zinfandel
Russian River
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Zinfandel
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2004 Big River Zinfandel
Alexander Valley
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Zinfandel
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2002 Cooke Vineyard Zinfandel
Sonoma County
This wine is complex and has a deep concentrated berry flavor. It is unique in that it accentuates the black pepper spice characteristics that are frequently associated with the wi ... morenes of southern Sonoma Valley. It also tends to have subtle hints of bay leaf in the scent and flavor profile, perhaps because the vineyard is surrounded by California Bay Laurel.
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Zinfandel
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2004 Dickerson Zinfandel
Napa Valley
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Cabernet Franc
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2002 Cabernet Franc
Sonoma County
Although Cabernet Franc is often viewed as Cabernet Sauvignon's little brother, it's actually the father. Yes: Cabernet Sauvignon is the child of Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Franc ... more, the primary grape in the great Bordeaux wines of St. Emilion. Widely employed in both France and California as a blending partner with its better-known son, when vinified separately — as this wine is, with fruit from Sonoma Valley, Rancho Salina and Pickberry — Cabernet Franc has an approachable elegance that sheer Cabernet Sauvignon lacks. Then there are its seductive overtones of raspberries, violets, olives and smoke. No worries: it's a compliment to mistake a parent for its own offspring.
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Cabernet Sauvignon
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2003 Cabernet Sauvignon
Sonoma County
When it comes to Cabernet, the name of the game is length: length of flavor, length of finish, length of growing season, length of life. Our Sonoma County Cab is thus given a long ... morefermentation (as much a month) to soften its tannins and provide structure for aging. Most of the fruit comes from well-drained gravel in Sonoma and Dry Creek Valleys, with a bonus injection from mountainside vineyards at Pickberry and Rancho Salina. All are low-cropped and small-berried, adding up to an intense mouthful of black cherries, mint, vanilla and smoke. The package will keep unfolding for decades.
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Merlot
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2004 Merlot
Sonoma County
Our taste in Merlot runs more toward the Old World discipline of Bordeaux than toward California goose-down comforters. The place in Sonoma to pursue that ideal is Ravenswood's own ... more Carneros region, whose bayfront breezes and chilling fog keep things firm and well-structured. Our Sonoma County Merlot has notes of leather, smoke and green olive, plus a smattering of Sonoma Valley fruit that announces its presence with ripe plums and cherries, velvety texture and hint of brown sugar. Finally, a couple of Cabernets (Franc and Sauvignon) add backbone. In sum: a classic California version of a classic Pomerol.
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Merlot
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2003 Merlot
Sonoma County
Deep ruby in color. Complex scents of ripe loganberry, cherries, smoke, anise, cocoa, vanilla and licorice prove to be an intriguing foresight to the ripe, full flavored, soft, plu ... moresh character that should charm the taster of this graceful merlot. The 2003 is rich and ripe, but has just the right amount of acid and tannin to keep it from being cloying or too heavy with a meal.
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Merlot
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2002 Merlot Sangiacomo
Carneros
Aromas and flavors of wood smoke, dark chocolate, black cherries, tar, black peppercorn and black olive enfolded in a thick, round black olive typically tannic finish that gives an ... more earthy pleasure that lingers long in the memory of those who live life well. This wine is particularly dark and brooding and will continue to unfold and give pleasure for many years.
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Merlot
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2001 Merlot Sangiacomo
Carneros
A dark, ruby color heralds scents of black cherries, plums, vanilla, cedar and brown sugar with spicy hints of cinnamon and nutmeg. It resounds with full, ripe, round and supple bl ... moreackberry and vanilla flavors supported by the bright, flashy qualities that make Merlot from the Carneros region unique. While the wine is enjoyable now, it will continue to develop favorably for another decade.
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Petite Sirah
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2004 Petite Sirah
Sonoma County
Petite Sirah's story is a heartwarmer in more ways than one. Brought to California from France in the nineteenth century, it was planted alongside Zinfandel to lend oomph to that v ... morearietal. Somehow, in the supportive process, its own merits got eclipsed; not until the 1990s did scientists discover it's the genetic child of the noble Syrah. Since at that point Ravenswood had been working with old vineyards for 25 years, however, we were already aware of the power and integrity that this grape shows when vinified alone. Today the only remaining confusion comes from calling such a big, rich, thick, chewy, plummy, inky, peppery wine "petite."
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Updated on December 21, 2007
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