Gnarly Head, Old Vine Zinfandel, 2013

The winery of Gnarly Head in Lodi, is just outside the main drag for wine production in California, but is capable of wines of similar quality as the more famous Napa and Sonoma regions. This is on account of the very dry weather and the use of very old, gnarled vines that produce low quantities of very high quality fruit. This technique is particularly well suited to Grenache as seen in many European countries, and also Zinfandel, which is the key variety here.