2010 Petite Sirah Hayne Vineyard Napa Valley

Larry Turley, who has never met an old-vines zinfandel vineyard he didn't like, is now farming 250 acres, of which he owns 153. His zinfandel vineyards in particular run a full gamut of soil types, geography, altitude, exposure and microclimate. Turley's normal pattern is to use new vineyard sources for his Old Vines zinfandel until he brings the viticulture up to his standards, at which point he introduces a new vineyard-designated wine. Director of winemaking Ehren Jordan assured me that all of the 2010s here are bone-dry, even the wines that approach 16% alcohol. Two thousand ten was a cool year that required significant crop-thinning to ripen the rest. A few vineyards were hurt by the extreme heat spike in late August, Jordan reported: for example, there's no Vineyard 101 bottling from this vintage.