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The Biale family, immigrants from Northern Italy, began growing grapes in Napa in the 1930’s, Zinfandel only. Zinfandel, California’s adopted grape, was widely planted by immigrants throughout the state’s history as a highly flavourful red grape well-suited for its expansive range of arid climates and diverse soils. In the 1940’s Aldo Biale sold bottles of illicit homemade Zinfandel known as 'Black Chickens' over his party line phone service. It became one of the most iconic Zinfandel made on the planet. In Napa Valley, French varieties dominate and made Zinfandel a rare variety comprising less that 3% of the valley’s grape production. Committed to the tradition of farming Zinfandel, Aldo Biale and son Robert decided in 1991 to set a goal of producing a world-class wine from the oldest Zinfandel vines on the Biale ranch in Napa’s Oak Knoll District.
Why do we like it?
It's a Zinfandel made on rocky soil, very poor, dry soils located on a high elevation vineyard. The roots have to dig deep to get enough nutrients to survive. It's a bit more classy than the Black Chickens in our opinion, demonstrating lot of concentrated black fruits, blue fruit, a touch of caramel and spice with seductive tannins and smoky finish. It was worth aging it and now we are happy to make it available for you!
Grape Zinfandel
Country USA
Region California
Vintage 2012
