Dried blackberry, cracked peppercorn, wild bilberry. Shriveled dark cherry, sun bleached wood, raw acai. Red desert flowers and wilted violet, tobacco resin and worn-in leather. Delightfully untamed briar and bramble dominates all attention as dried basil and red pepper flakes add savory spice. Imagine traversing a barren salt flat, dripping sweat, and stumbling upon a rusty iron gate. You open the gate, trudge through knee high prickly cactus and rose stems, to then stumble upon spilled soy sauce evaporating slowly on hot asphalt. There is absolutely fruit on this wine - deliciously decadent & dense dried fruit - but the layers of tense spicy secondary notes steal the show in thrilling fashion. This is lean. This is mean. This stuff is just brimming with so much nuance and tension. This 2015 Home Ranch Zinfandel by Seghesio Family Vineyards is quite possibly the one of the best Zinfandels we have ever experienced.

Sadly too many Zins in this world can be accurately described as "Quaffable, but not transcendent". This bottling, sourced from their Home Ranch in Sonoma's Alexander Valley by the legendary Seghesio Family Vineyards, has just blown transcendence out of the water. Plum pit, fig, cranberry, and strawberry highlight a gorgeously restrained fruit profile that merely sets the tone for the onslaught of savory earth and spice notes to follow. There is a clean and almost parched dryness to this wine that scoffs at any hint of new world over ripeness or residual sugar. Medium tannin and booming acidity add horsepower while alcohol is kept perfectly in check. There is so much pent up energy in this wine that it virtually commands your attention. Structure wise this feels closer to top-shelf CDP than California Zinfandel. This wine is absolutely epic and should be taken very seriously. Bravo, Seghesio, for this masterful Zinfandel.