February 28, 2024 - This Turley Zinfandel was sourced from the Heminway Vineyard, which sits at an elevation of 1700 feet within the Chiles Valley sub-AVA. Crafted from vines that were between 20 and 23 years of age at the time of harvesting, the grapes (100% Zinfandel) were fermented on native yeast and aged for 15 months in a combination of French (80%) and American (20%) oak, with 20% of all barrels being new. The end result is a deep ruby, highly aromatic wine that is effusive of black and blue bramble fruits, fig, mulling spices, cocoa and white pepper. Medium-to-full-bodied, fresh, judiciously oaked and without any heat from its lofty 15.4% alcohol (when served at 60-65°F), it delivers comparable flavors that are coated with medium-weight, silky-smooth tannins. Dense in the middle and long on the finish, this is a gorgeous, "feminine" Turley with beautiful fruit and soft textures. Sampled over a three-hour period from a well-cellared bottle that had been Vinturi-decanted, this was quickly expressive but was at its best after the first hour in carafe. Drink now-2027.
October 7, 2023 - Fantastic zin. One of our favorite Turleys. Strong notes of cedar with underlying spice.
August 18, 2023 - Solid afternoon wine enjoyed with salsa and chips. Immediately approachable right at the pnp. Dark garnet red in the glass, red berries and tea on the nose with a hint of spice. Soft and velour like in the mouth with more red berries predominantly. Mid-weight, balanced and quite good. Did not seem to improve further over 60-90 minutes of air, but stayed steady and quite nice throughout. I try to finish most of my Turleys by the 5 year mark. This one is now 4 yo and not likely to improve any further from a 'zin' standpoint. It will continue to soften and lose its zin characteristics in coming years.
May 24, 2023 - Deep purple color, great nose of pencil lead and blueberry with a lingering floral-lavender something. Really delivers a complex, dark berry flavor with a nice beam of mineral or riverstone to give the wine refined complexity. A bit dark cola flavors in there too. Too complex to label this a fruit bomb zin, it's way more refined than that. Drinks great now in 2023 but another year would smooth out the already velvety tannins at mid pallet.
February 8, 2023 - One-hour decant. Sweet tannins. Drink now or hold til 2026.
October 10, 2022 - Brambly, warm and luscious.
September 15, 2022 - This was a great pnp while visiting family last night.....sweet big red/black fruited zin beauty. Requisite white pepper and spicebox. Integrated and approachable and scored its best for me in the first two hours it was open. Cork back into bottle and finished this afternoon. While the nose was just about as nearly as expressive as the first day, the palate of the 2nd day offered less pleasure. Fruit was muted and changed to almost all black. Zin sense and spicebox toned down a good bit too. Rather pedestrian now. Maybe an 88-89 at best on day 2.
September 4, 2022 - Sweet black fruit aroma with notes of spice and dried flowers. A slight sting of alcohol on the nose. Ripe, jammy black fruit flavors with a spicy, woody, stemmy finish. Also notes of cedar and vanilla. Well balanced but not particularly complex — mostly just juicy fruit.
June 28, 2022 - Different than most Turley Zin's - not as much upfront fruit in this one. Some earthy tones and not much pepper. Enjoyable, noty my favorite.
Color, body and clarity all good.
May 7, 2022 - First time we’ve had a zin from this vineyard. It’s excellent. Perfect with Mediterranean style meatballs - herbs and cumin in the mix. Beautiful color and big flavor will order again and more if available.