2017 Zinfandel Rattlesnake Ridge

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.

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.