Wines & Spirits October 1999 issue selects the Cline Cellars 1997 Ancient Vines Zinfandel as one of the top 10 Zinfandels for 1999. Over the last 12 months W&S tasted 252 Zinfandels and rated the 1997 Ancient Vines Zinfandel 93 points.

W&S comments:
"Not for the faint of heart. This wine is heady, odoriforous, almost too intimate. But perhaps you like that intimacy with the slightly fetid, slightly sweet richness of freshly turned earth and, well, manure. Personally, I can't pull myself away from the aroma of this zinfandel. With more critical distance, I could name components of cranberry, black currant, leather, molasses. But that sounds heavy, and it's not-just extremely concentrated, from old, low-yielding vines planted in the sandy soils of Oakley. It has the texture of a grand cru of California, supple and dynamic. Glorious zin. 8,834 cases. Suggested $20"

Ridge's 1997 Geyserville and Rosenblum 1997 Sonoma Valley Samsel Vineyard Maggies Reserve received highest honors with 94 points. While Kenwood's 1996 Sonoma County Mazzoni and Ravenwood's 1997 Old Hill Vineyard Limited Edition tied with Cline Cellars,earning 93 points. To read more about the 10 Best Zinfandels pick-up a copy of Wines & Spirits October Issue.

More Awards...

Sonoma Valley Harvest Fair Awards

More than 2000 people packed into the Grace Pavilion at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds Saturday, September 25th for the Harvest Fair Awards. Cline Cellars entered four wines from their Los Carneros vineyards and took home three medals. The 1997 Los Carneros Syrah received a gold medal and a bronze medal for the 1998 Los Carneros Roussanne and 1998 Los Carneros Viognier.

This year judges awarded a record 78 gold medals on the 632 wines entered by 105 wineries. A majority of the entries where from Sonoma County but Napa and Contra Costa County also participated in this years fair.

1997 Los Carneros Syrah

XX. Cline
1997 Syrah
Los Carneros District $20
This reminds us of a receptionist with an attitude at a bread factory -
dough, pencil shavings and packed with aggression. Almost XXX

Reviewed by WineX Magazine.

Not a sissy Syrah - no sir - this one is as big and bold as they come. General qualities extracted, full-bodied, masculine, toasty oak Colors deep purple Aromas black cherry, cedar, green wood, mushroom Flavors berry, caramel, licorice, meaty, smoky.

Reviewed by Winetoday.com

1999 Heritage Vineyard Harvested

An early October morning in Oakville, California, a group of University of California, Davis workers harvested the Heritage Vineyard. Within one hour, even before the sun burned through the morning fog, 2.382 tons of historically important Zinfandel grapes were picked. Our winemaker, Matthew Cline has been selected to produce the 1999 Heritage Vineyard Zinfandel.

The Heritage Vineyard is a collection of rare and famous Zinfandel vine cutting grown throughout California. The "Zinfandel safari" began in 1989 with UC Davis Professor and Chair of Viticulture & Enology Department, James Wolpert; UC Extension Viticulturist Emeritus, Armand Kasimatis; and UC Extension Farm Advisors Ed Weber from Napa County and Rhonda Smith from Sonoma County. They brought back clippings from Sonoma, Mendocino, Napa, Contra Costa, San Luis Obispo, and San Joaquin Counties, and the Sierra Foothills. The research team selected vine cuttings from vineyards planted before 1930.

The 0.76 Heritage Vineyard acre is located within the UC Davis Oakville Research Station in Napa Valley, California. It contains 7 vines each from 63 different Zinfandel vineyards, with 456 vines currently planted in the bale clay loam soils. The vines are grafted onto St. George rootstock and each vine is head-trained and spur-pruned. These practices are not as typical today, since they result in a low quantity but high quality yield.

Zinfandel Advocate and Producers (ZAP) began producing wine from this historical vineyard in 1997. The first Heritage Vineyard Zinfandel (HVZ) was harvested by ZAP winery producer Nils Venge of Saddleback Cellars and Mary Buckles Pisor of PlumpJack Winery in Oakville. The 1998 vintage by Robert Biale of Biale Vineyards in Napa and the 1999 vintage is trusted in our very own Matthew Cline. Cline Cellars is extremely proud to have the opportunity to take part in such critical research for such a vital grape variety. Zinfandel has and always will be a major player for Cline Cellars. "We are very fortunate to have this collection of old-vine Zinfandel vines and through the Heritage Project we look forward to persevering the variety for future generations. Being able to produce wine from the 63 selections of Zinfandel is very exciting for me," states Matt Cline. The Heritage Vineyard research will enable the wine industry to study Zinfandel and preserve one of America's historical agricultural products into the next millennium. Thanks to ZAP it has donated over $50,000 to the Heritage Vineyard.

A limited amount of 1997 HVZ was sold at the annual Blue Jeans to Black Tie Auction & Dinner in January 1999 to help raise funds for the UC Davis research. The 1998 HVZ will be sampled at next year's 2ThouZin Zinfandel Festival Blue Jeans to Black Tie Auction and Dinner on Friday, January 28, 2000 in San Francisco to a limited amount of consumers. For more information about ZAP, 2ThouZin Zinfandel Festival or the Heritage Vineyard email: zaprr@oro.net.

1734 tons of grapes have been crushed at Cline Cellars, which is equivalent to approximately 116,178 cases.(10/19/99)

Zinfandel grapes being sorted for removel of leaves.

Grapes being crushed.

1997 Côtes D'Oakley - Vin Gris Mourvèdre

1997 Côtes D'Oakley - Vin Gris Mourvèdre

Styled after the Rhône Valley's greatest dry rosés, notably Tavel and Lirac. This wine exhibits intense aromas of cherries, and strawberries. Such a versatile food wine, this Vin Gris goes great with spicy Thai and Asian-style foods, is an elegant apéritif wine and don't forget how wonderful this wine accompanies your Thanksgiving feast (only three months away).

Tasting Room Special

1997 Côtes D'Oakley - Vin Gris Mourvèdre

20% of bottle and 33% of case

Contact the tasting room for shipping costs and wine availability 800/546-2070. Cline Cellars can ship wine only to RECIPROCAL STATES: California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin.

For a list of Cline Cellars wines visit our Wine Page.