2017 Zinfandel Dusi Vineyard

Several years ago, I made the decision to split up my tastings at Turley into two sessions after tasting all the wines in barrel and bottle in a single sitting, an experience, that while fascinating, certainly was a bit, let's say extreme. Two tastings a year was quite manageable. Since then, Larry Turley and Tegan Passalacqua have expanded the range meaningfully, which means even tasting a single vintage now means going through 40+ wines!

The 2017s show the challenges of a freakish growing season. Vineyards close to being fully ripe ramped up very quickly during the Labor Day heat spikes. Yields were lower than normal for a variety of reasons, including several heat events, hail and other whims of Mother Nature. In tasting, the vintage appears to favor Zinfandel, while the Petites seem a bit less in character. Of course, other than the Juvenile and Old Vines, the 2017s are still in barrel, so it is very early days. I also tasted all of the 2016s, wines from a more benign vintage that have lived up to all the praise I bestowed upon them last year. I will be adding notes on the finished 2016s (and 2015s as well) to our database in the coming weeks.