Old Hill Ranch was established in 1852 and stands today as Sonoma's oldest vineyard. Founded by William McPherson Hill; who was cultivating a grape variety he called Black St. Peters. This was later determined to be Zinfandel. It was the 1866 vintage from these vines that produced the worlds first really famous Zinfandel. Amazingly, the vines withstood multiple owners, Prohibition, and abandonment before being revived in the 1980's, when the grapes began to be sold to Ravenswood for that winery's most famous and highly regarded Zinfandel. Today, four Bucklin siblings own the vineyard and use the grapes for their own wine (a portion is still sold to Ravenswood). Very rich and ripe, but stopping just short of raisined, this is all ripe blackberries and pie spice (clove, allspice, cinnamon), with great structure provided by firm acids that add surprising freshness to a wine of this size. Very complex, you can almost taste the terroir expressed in the wine made from the grapes produced by these century-old vines. History, and greatness, in a bottle
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