In 1964, we produced our first zinfandel from 19th-century vines. Draper smiles for a moment and continues the saga of how the Ridge partners quickly knew that they'd never break even with the yield from their vineyards alone. There was no cabernet of quality for sale, so we started looking at zinfandel grapes. From the Dusi Ranch in Paso Robles and York Creek in Napa come even more full-throated zinfandels wearing the Ridge label. But it's true, Draper will admit, that the older, the better.
Fewer grapes create happier, stress-free plants.
That way, you maintain more depth and nuance in the fruit. You have to manage them, not push them. Balanced tannins allow the wine to be approachable and delicious even when it's young. In a fussier varietal, like cabernet sauvignon, so much tannin is present at birth that the grapes need years of maturing to soften into a pleasing glass of wine. Vineyards in the Sierra foothills, planted more than a century ago with zinfandel vines by recalcitrant gold miners, set the current tone.