| Red Wine | Zinfandel | Sonoma County | ||||
| Type | Varietal | Appellation | Region |
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Cellar Notes |
Date printed: 09/07/10 |
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Price on 09/07/10: $99.99 |
Stew Leonard's Wines of Norwalk Notes
Produced by St. Francis Winery & Vineyards, named "International Red Wine Maker of the Year," Zintastic features a trio of red wines sold together here for the first time: St. Francis "Old Vines" Zinfandel 2006, Wild Oak by St. Francis Old Vine Zinfandel 2006 and St. Francis Pagani Vineyard Zinfandel 2006. Each bottle is jam-packed with an astonishing concentration of flavors from ripe black cherries, boysenberries and licorice to toasted oak and eucalyptus, all with a spicy complexity that carries into a long, luscious finish. With its big time flavors, Zintastic ups the ante at poker night, adds prestige to any wine cellar and looks sharp under the tree. Its elegant packaging will assure gift givers that Zintastic will cut an impressive figure this holiday season.
About St. Francis
The story of St. Francis Winery & Vineyards begins, quite naturally, in a vineyard. In 1971, Joe Martin, a San Francisco businessman, eager for a change, purchased 100 acres of land in the historic town of Kenwood in the heart of Sonoma Valley and planted grapes. Joe was joined by his good friend, Lloyd Canton, as his partner in 1972 and together they built and established one of the most respected wineries in Sonoma Valley. Completed in 1979, the Winery was christened St. Francis Winery after Saint Francis of Assisi, patron saint of humanitarian efforts and to acknowledge the Franciscan order, the first to bring European grape cultivation to the new world. In 1983 Tom Mackey was brought on board as the first full time winemaker. Tom added Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel to the 100% Merlot already in production. Today, St. Francis is known as one the country's premier producers of robust, flavorful wines, earning the nickname "House Of Big Reds". With the addition of more than 400 acres of prime Sonoma County vineyards to St. Francis' portfolio and increased production over the years, it was apparent that a larger facility was needed. In 1998 ground was broken for the construction of a new winery facility at the Wild Oak Vineyard site located at the base of Hood Mountain, just one mile west of the original Winery on Hwy 12 in the Sonoma Valley. In the Fall of 1999 the first crush took place in this state of the art Winery. This impressive winemaking facility affords winemaker Tom Mackey and his staff the assurance of quality for each varietal throughout the production process. The Winery's larger capacity along with state of the art equipment and climate-controlled barrel storage have given Mackey the opportunity to continue to create wines of excellent extraction, color and flavor, evident in the big bold wines offered today by St. Francis Winery. As Joe and Lloyd look at what they have accomplished since 1972 and anticipate the challenges inherent in the growing wine market, their quest for making quality wines from Sonoma County's best grapes continues.