2005 Papapietro Perry Russian River Valley Zinfandel

So....here's the story. Caren's brother was in the same grade in high school with a girl (and Caren was in the same grade as her brother) who moved to San Francisco sometime in the 1970s for a job in the software industry. Caren recently ordered an alumni directory from her high school (why, I have no idea). In the directory, the girl who knew Caren's brother was listed as being one of the owners of a winery in Healdsburg, California. She is married to one of the founders of Papapietro Perry winery. We have been members of their wine club for a couple of years and visited the winery in April (before discovering the old connection). Small world!

This winery in the Dry Creek Valley area of Sonoma County specializes in Pinot Noir. They actually produce about nine different Pinot Noirs a year. They also produce a very good Zinfandel (tonight's wine).

The grapes for this Zinfandel come from three Russian River Valley vineyards; two of their Pinot producers, the Leras Family Vineyards located off Woolsey Road in Santa Rosa and the Elsbree Vineyards in Windsor, and Windsor Oaks vineyard in Windsor. They cold-soaked the grapes for three days and once the fermentation began they hand punched the grapes in open-top fermenters, a method not commonly used with Zinfandel. The wine was then aged for 17 months in Francois Frères oak barrels, just like their Pinot Noirs.

Deep garnet in color leading to an aromatic nose of delicate oak, cherry and white pepper. This is an elegant, full-bodied wine with pleasing complexity, with flavors of bright cherry, a hint of spice, and a delicate pepper finish.

We served the wine with a simple dinner of spaghetti and meatballs accompanied with a salad.