Cline Cellars Old Vine Lodi Zinfandel

Cline Cellars is a family-owned vineyard and winery in Sonoma’s Carneros Valley. Established in 1982 by Fred Cline, a descendant of Italian US settlers, he originally founded the winery in Oakley, Contra Costa County, cultivating Rhône varieties and Zinfandel on vines dating back to 1906.

In the 1990s, the family moved their winemaking operation to a 350 acre ranch in Carneros Valley, adopting sustainable farming in 2000, and building the largest solar panelled winery in California. While others in California were focusing on Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay, Fred Cline saw the potential of Rhône varieties and Zinfandel in his vineyards and continues to produce focussed, terroir-driven wines.

Cline is proud to be a Certified California Sustainable Vineyard and Winery. The program acknowledges a long-term commitment to continual improvement in the field of sustainable winegrowing and business practices, from grape to glass. It is located in Sonoma County, which is committed to becoming the first 100% sustainable wine region in the US by 2019.

Fred Cline and Bob Cannard founded Green String Farm and the Green String method of sustainable farming in 2003. Green String Farm is a 57 hectare natural process, sustainable farm near Petaluma, California. The Green String method meets the highest standard of environmental sustainability practices, which is different from certified organic. The methods reduce soil erosion, pesticide dependency, and loss of biodiversity; and increase resistance to natural predators.

In 2005, Cline was one of the first wineries to fully adopt solar energy. In 2018 it upgraded the original array with the latest technology, designed to offset 100% of its winery’s electrical consumption.

Instead of herbicides, Cline has 1,500 sheep and 500 goats that roam its vineyards, tasked with removing invasive weeds and instead of harmful pesticides, Cline provides owl boxes and raptor perches in the vineyard. These birds of prey are the predators of gophers and mice and help to maintain ecological control.

Cline composts and re-uses all digestible organic waste and materials from its winery, including 3,000 tons of grape pomace per year, prunings from trees and vines, plus chipped materials from the landscape. This waste is turned into a biological stimulant and food for the soils.Cline also grinds its own volcanic rock and then spreads the crushed cinder onto the soil. Having a wide spectrum of mineralogy, these cinders provide the vineyards with a complex array of nutrients and trace minerals, ensuring that the vines have all the necessary components to build fullness of character in the wine.

Zinfandel,

When selecting fruit for Lodi Zinfandel, Cline focus primarily on harmony, early drinkability and elegant structure. This vintage draws from 14 superb Zinfandel vineyards in the legendary area of Lodi where warm days and cool nights have ripened grapes to perfection for over 100 years.

The grapes were de-stemmed and lightly crushed to preserve fruit and limit harsh tannin extraction. A moderately warm fermentation in closed stainless steel tanks using specific wine yeast came next. Once desired tannin levels were achieved, the wine was racked two or even three times before aging in wood for eight month. This achieves early elegance without sacrificing bright fruit. They used 35% new French oak with a medium toast level, which contributes a delicate toasty vanilla character to the wine without masking the abundant fruit.

Classic Californian Zin. Always a winner. Oak ageing provides just the right amount of toasty vanilla character whilst the overtly ripe and luscious Zinfandel fruit envelops any tannin making this beauty big and bold.

Showing a wide array of ripe almost sweet berry fruit including black cherry and strawberry. The ripe palate shows more berry fruit, as well as dark spice notes such as chinese five spice, star annise and clove . The finish has gentle supple tannins.

This wine will pair very well with roast belly pork and any spicy stew or chowder.