2001 Icon Mixed Blacks Sonoma County

Joel Peterson considers 2001 an excellent zinfandel vintage, thanks to the long hang time of the grapes. He described it as a cooler year and noted that the spring frost significantly reduced potential yields at the start of the season. While Peterson also rates a lot of the 2000 zins highly, he told me that the cabernet and merlot in 2001 were clearly superior to those grapes in both 1999 and 2000. Techniques have remained constant here: long macerations, warm fermentations with native yeasts, and extended aging in all French oak (35% to 50% new for the vineyard-designated zins). Bottling takes place the second July - to get "a claret or Rhone style of elevage is the way Peterson put it.