2002 Zinfandel Pesenti Vineyard

Although I find myself getting excited over fewer zinfandels lately than I did back in the day, that's hardly the fault of this producer, which continues to turn out zins of great purity and concentration, mostly from ancient vines. At a time when the glorious fruit of too many California zinfandels is dulled by heavy doses of new oak, Turley continues to back off on its use of new barrels-to barely 20% today.Winemaker Ehren Jordan considers 2002 one of the best Turley vintages to date. The noses are fresh and the fruit has a succulent quality," he told me. It was an orderly harvest without any frantic picking.We started harvesting at the end of August and finished the first week of November."Most of these wines are made from purchased fruit, but Larry Turley told me that, in addition to his own estate vineyard around the winery north of St. Helena, he owns the Pesenti, Vineyard 101 and Rattlesnake Ridge Vineyards, and has long-term leases on Dragon, Ueberroth and Dogtown. As to when to drink his zinfandels, Turley gave the following guidelines: The Hayne is generally the longest-lived, but you can start drinking most of the rest within two or three years.Wines from Paso Robles generally have great acidity to keep them fresh. But in general the fruit of our zinfandels does not improve with aging, so there's little to be gained by forgetting the wines in your cellar."I left my Breathalyzer home for this marathon tasting.