96pts Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

Grapes for the 2021 Angeli Zinfandel are picked in three passes. Proprietor Scot Bilbro notes that Zinfandel's naturally varying levels of ripeness can lead to raisiny flavors if all the grapes are picked at a higher brix. "If you bring Zinfandel in over 25 brix, that means the juice inside is at 25, but the skins have a lot more sugar, and the level will go up to 28 or more," he explains. "So, we pick at 23, 24 and just shy of 25. You can enable the wine to show off layers with those different picks." This strategy led to a gorgeous Angeli in 2021 that is incredibly expressive and perfumed. Blueberry, boysenberry and blackberry give way to wafts of graphite, gobs of violet and even touches of tangerine. The medium to full-bodied palate explodes with concentrated fruit and expansive layers of floral perfume and spice. It has a powdery frame, bursts of mouthwatering acidity and a very long, nuanced finish

91pts Jeb Dunnuck

The dark purple 2021 Zinfandel Angeli is from the Angeli estate vineyards in the Alexander Valley and was raised for 15 months in neutral barrels. Concentrated and full-bodied, it reveals layered notes of dried apricot, espresso, blackberry compote, and licorice. The palate is brooding and savory, with a fleshy texture, an earthier profile, and notes of dark chocolate through the finish. A more potent and powerful style.

Winemaker Notes

Showing bright and clear scarlet while poured, the wine in the glass becomes edged with a deeper hue reminiscent of plum skin. With swirling layers of ripe cherry, blood peach, and marzipan this pure Zinfandel is immediately bright, inviting, and nuanced on the nose. Hints of violet, black tea, and spice ground the wine with a dark intensity. Velvety across the palate this exuberant wine finishes dry with a textured foremouth focus and a core of acidity cutting a cleansing path through the richness. This Zinfandel is a seductive, stately celebration of the Angeli vineyard which surrounds the winery.

About the Wine

Honor the land. Our Estate Series celebrates our connection to Nature, which inspires and sustains us. Each of these wines represents our purest expression of distinctive sites within this awesome place we call home: Our Angeli Zinfandel, farmed from Angeli Ranch vineyards, a dramatic property at the entrance of a small canyon, where gravel swales connect to terraced knolls; our Game Trail Cabernet, farmed from a small block perched at 1400 ft. in a mountain ridge of the Yorkville Highlands, with coastal influences, and large diurnal shifts, which allow for the ideal balance of optimal ripeness of fruit, and retention of natural acidity; and our Gibson Block Syrah, farmed from a vineyard block in the heart of the McDowell Valley AVA, an ancient, dry-farmed mixed block next to the original Gibson Homestead, planted with some of the oldest Syrah and Grenache in California.