2015 Clos du Val Zinfandel Napa Valley 750 ml

Tony Biagi’s Near-Final Zin Curtain Call

When Napa’s iconic Clos du Val winery announced they’d be transitioning to 100 percent estate bottled wines, we zeroed in on their 2015 Clos du Val Zinfandel, knowing it would be the second-to-last vintage ever produced. Why? While the grapes are not estate-grown, they are sourced from some of the best sites beginning in Stags Leap, sprawling three miles north and south. Under the watchful eye of consulting winemaker Tony Biagi (formerly Plumpjack, Cade, and now Hourglass) this 100% Zin is made with Cabernet-like patience, aged 15 months one-third new French oak before bottling. Dark-fruited, spiced, and showing the complexities of a patient upbringing and gentle touch, this is classic 

Even if it hadn’t been selected as one of six wines to take on the Bordeaux Grands Crus at the 1976 Judgment of Paris tasting, Clos du Val would still have a place in history as a pioneer in Napa Valley’s three-mile-by-one-mile Stags Leap District. When Bernard Portet and John Goelet purchased the 150-acre property in 1972, they set out to make a top quality Zinfandel—a California heritage variety.

But a consequential decision from inside the ivy-covered walls of the Clos du Val château means big changes starting in 2017: Clos du Val will shift production to 100 percent estate wines—a courageous move that will involve cutting production in half.

The first vintage of Zinfandel came from plantings on Howell Mountain, and later from Stags Leap Zinfandel, before it was torn out for Cabernet production. But over the years, Clos du Val came to rely on stellar fruit from growing partners within just three miles of their estate property. While this fruit is as good as it has ever been, Clos du Val is smack in Cabernet country, and ripping out Cabernet to plant Zinfandel will have the bean counters shaking their heads. Sadly, after the 2016 vintage, Clos du Val’s Zinfandel will be no more, which means that the 2015 vintage of this bottling is second-to-last.

And what a second-to-last it is: 2015 resulted in Zinfandel of great concentration not only because it was the fourth in Napa Valley’s streak of drought vintages, but because early-season rains lowered yields by preventing many grapes from turning into viable fruit. Low yields also get the bean counters stressed out because their forecasts begin to look bleak. For wine lovers however, low yields typically equate to remarkably concentrated wines. And with 49% off staring you down, order as much as you can today, and enjoy what will be some of the last bottles of this revered producer’s sleek Zin.