2000 Merlot Donnell Sonoma Valley

Zinfandel lovers who closely follow this winery's often extraordinary bottlings from very old vines all over the North Coast may be surprised to learn that Ravenswood made 700,000 cases of wine in 2000. The overwhelming majority of this production is made up of the Vintners Blend bottling and several offerings in Ravenswood's county series; parcels such as Old Hill Ranch, Kunde and Cooke typically produce no more than 200 to 600 cases, as the very old, low-yielding head-pruned vines that Ravenswood favors offer little room to increase production. I tasted the line-up of 2000 reds with assistant winemaker Gary Sitton, who told me that 2000, like 1999, required little acid adjustment. "A couple of heat spikes fried some grapes," said Sitton. "We got some jammy, high-extract wines with some dried-fruit character, but we consider the vintage of comparable quality to 1999." Sitton added that the Bordeaux varieties were picked under better, cooler conditions in 2000.