Gang of Pour - Daze of Wine and Road Trips

Allan Bree on Ravenswood Old Hill

Day-Twah (Detroit), Michigan
Old Hill Ranch Revisited

'97 Old Hill Zinfandel
Does this sound familiar?

You can’t remember why you bought it.

You don’t know why you haven’t opened it.

And to make matters worse, despite little actual tasting experience with the wine, you continued to purchase several vintages.

OK, you don’t have to say it out loud, but...does any of this apply to you, or am I the only shamefaced countenance in the crowd?

With bowed head, I accept any epithet you might hurl.

Mea culpa.

Ravenswood Old Hill Zinfandel.

Ohhhh.......that’s different No harm, no foul.

Now, you must understand – I’m pretty ‘old school’ when it comes to Zin. I started buying Zinfandel on an unreasonable level with the 1990 vintage, so I would be embarrassed to tell you how much of that stuff I’ve got in the cellar. I’ve gotten over that now, especially in light of current pricing and stylistic changes – but that’s another story. What I’ve got is wine that needs to be tasted.

Enter Steve Carney. I’ve never met the guy. He posts on one of the internet wine boards about the 97 Old Hill, seeking a bottle for a vertical tasting – he seems like a nice fellow. That’s easy enough - off goes the bottle, and it gets me thinking about opening some of these myself to see where they’re at. This makes it a fairly obvious choice for my annual pilgrimage to Gang Central. Having recently sated our Ridge cravings with absurd abandon at Ridgestock, I was looking for new areas to explore.

Ravenswood’s first released vintage of Old Hill was 1984. It has always been a small production wine – low yields from a relatively small vineyard – the quintessential "old vine" Zinfandel.

David Darlington, author of Angel’s Visits, and a former Ravenswood employee, was commissioned by Joel Peterson to write profiles of growers from whom the winery purchases fruit. His piece on the late Otto Teller and his Old Hill Vineyard is detailed and well written.

So I packed up a bottle each of the vintages I had, and toted them to Day-twah, knowing that Bastardo would perk up at the sight of them. Perhaps we could find other Zinfandel adventurers who might find them interesting.

The 1992 Old Hill was splendid stuff, with a richness and depth of flavor that reminded me of the 1992 Ridge Lytton Springs, an hourglass figured wine if ever there was one. Perhaps not quite so voluptuous, but seductive none the less. I thought it "great Zinfandel", a descriptor the notable Scribe demurred from, but I insist: a great wine from a great piece of earth in a great Zinfandel year – quite special.

And – the one that got away.

Fast forward back to Napa, and while rummaging through my newly disorganized cellar, I discovered a cache of sachet in my stashay – a couple of bottles of the 90 Old Hill, mixed in with the Old Vines from the same vintage. What’s a body to do?

1990 Ravenswood Zinfandel Old Hill – dark and dense color – aromas of dusty ripe plum fruits – in the mouth it has that signature core of focused ripe fruit with elements of spice and tobacco leaf. The still prominent tannins make this just a bit difficult for me to drink right now, but given a bit of time, this will no doubt be an outstanding Zinfandel.

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