It”s not that Wildhurst”s notable 2011 Home Ranch Zinfandel needed a bit of luck.
Oh, a wet June and cool summer allowed the grapes to pace themselves and ripen slowly, reaching a peak vintners dream about. But the vagaries of weather play constantly with the fortunes of wine.
“It was a funny year,” Wildhurst winemaker Banyon Kirkendall observed. “We stole Napa and Sonoma”s weather.”
Rather, the Home Ranch Zin benefitted from management, with Kirkendall hovering over the vines and fussing with the barrels. And we know this because the Kelseyville operation also produced a Reserve Zinfandel, one with a distinctly different temperament.
Two wines from the same grapes grown on the same plot of land. Both brought home golds, double golds and other honors from different wine competitions. But the similarity ends when you sample the pair, side by side.
The Reserve shows off the characteristic aged fruit of a Zin from the start, with welcoming aromatics of raisin and prune, worn velvet and cracked pepper added depth to the juicier notes. It”s friendly rival, the Home Ranch, is deeper. The dried fruit resonates, playing off earthy spice and soft white pepper — sensations that linger in the nose.
On the palate, the Reserve is fresher, juicier, with a lozenge-like tinge (think eucalyptus) and sparks of pepper. Wildhurst”s Home Ranch carries a toasted, caramelized impression throughout, as if somehow the dried fruit had been roasted on the grill, the spices toasted in cast iron and the sugars flickered with heat until bitter and brown. Yet there is a noticeable balance, the delicate just as forward as the bold.
The 2011 Home Ranch is a confident wine, able to standalone or pour with an entree. The Reserve, meanwhile, craves a hearty slab of steak or pork alongside — something to act as a wingman.
No, Kirkendall is not some sort of mad scientist. Aside from leaving the grapes destined for the Home Ranch label on the vine, he also aged the wine in barrels of 80 percent new oak. The Reserve, on the other hand, rested in 15 percent new oak.
“What”s cool about that is it shows how you can manage fruit,” Kirkendall pointed out. “It shows what new oak can do to a wine.”
Winemakers fret over the question of oak. They ponder the use of French, Hungarian or American wood, each with different grain structure. They reuse wood to a point, knowing that newer oak imparts more flavor, older oak provides subtlety, but staves past their prime create carnage.
You see, the wood interacts with wine. Sometimes this can be a bad thing, but more often — if the winemaker”s hunch is right — the seeping of flavor and exposure to air adds character to the finished product.
Of course, new oak is more expensive. Wildhurst produced only 240 cases of the Home Ranch in 2011.
“At the end of the day, I wanted more,” Kirkendall admitted.
But what he got was impressive enough. One Zin at less than $20, one topping $30 and both worthy of double gold medals.
Dave Faries can be reached at 900-2016
