2018 Zinfandel Hayne Vineyard

A few years ago, I tasted two vintages at Turley back to back, something that I can only describe as a ‘near-death’ experience. Of course, I am kidding. These days I am a bit smarter, and my tastings are spread out over two days, which allows me to really focus on one vintage at a time. The bottled 2017s turned out pretty much as I had expected. As readers will glean from the notes, there is a bit of variability in the 2017s. Not all the wines are as successful as they can be, but Zinfandel, in particular, is highly sensitive to heat, so that is not entirely surprising. Vineyard signatures are also not as delineated as they can be, but that also is typical of warm years. There are no such issues with the 2018s. Based on what I tasted from barrel, 2018 is a magical vintage at Turley. The wines are incredibly precise and nuanced. Readers should note that any wines missing from this report were simply not bottled because of smoke taint issues.