1995 Ravenswood Zinfandel Monte Rosso

BY ANTONIO GALLONI | FEBRUARY 27, 2017&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

More than twenty years after it was made, Ravenswood's 1995 Zinfandel Monte Rosso is superb.
Powerful and intense to the core, the 1995 offers up a compelling interplay of
dark cherry, kirsch, licorice, leather, tobacco and wood smoke. Despite its
considerable intensity, the 1995 has more than enough freshness and depth to
drink well for another decade, perhaps more. Then again, Monte Rosso is one of
the most pedigreed vineyard sites in Northern California. When it was made,
Monte Rosso was part of the Sonoma Valley AVA. Today, it falls within the recently
created Moon Mountain AVA. Readers can see from the accompanying map that Monte
Rosso is made up of numerous small parcels, many of them quite distinctive. 

<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1488209463427-fullsizerender_720-1+copy.jpg"> 

The 1995 Zinfandel
Monte Rosso captures visionary winemaker and Ravenswood founder Joel
Peterson at an inflection point in his long and storied career. At the time,
Ravenswood was growing at breakneck speed. The flagship Zinfandel Vintners
Blend started with a production of a few thousand cases. By the mid-to-late
1990s, production was 40,000 cases. That would explode to around 400,000 cases
by 2001, when Constellation acquired Ravenswood. The 1995 Zinfandel Monte Rosso
belongs to an earlier, and simpler, time in the winery's history. It is both a
testament to the potential of Zinfandel as well as the pedigree of Sonoma’s top
sites. In this tasting, the 1995 Monte Rosso is absolutely brilliant. 94/Drinking window: 2017-2027.<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1488218389575-monte+rosso+snapshot.png"> 

Monte Rosso as seen in
the forthcoming Vinous Map: The Vineyards of Mt. Veeder &amp; Moon Mountain

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