2016 Titus Zinfandel Napa Valley 750 ml

A Robert Parker Favorite’s Under-The-Radar Red

The Titus brothers are a force to be reckoned with in Napa Valley.

Tall, thoughtful, self-effacing, and calm, Phil and Eric Titus have been honing their viticultural skills since childhood, when they began pitching in on the family vineyard, helping nurture grapes that were sold to Charles Krug, Beaulieu Vineyards, and Pine Ridge. Today, Eric continues the family’s outstanding farming legacy while Phil splits his time between his family’s eponymous winery and Pritchard Hill, where he’s become famous for crafting top-scoring Cabernets at Chappellet. Together, the Titus brothers are veritable titans in Napa Valley and their wines show the family’s penchant for greatness in every, fruit-laden sip.

This year marks their 50th anniversary of farming in the valley, but our favorite thing to do with the Titus brothers is drink wine. Specifically, the wines they bring to Premiere Napa Valley, the annual charity auction event that takes place every February in Napa Valley. The trick isn’t to taste the marquee Cabernets on offer, but to find out what the brothers are drinking themselves—usually from unmarked bottles hidden under the table.

Such was the case at this year’s Premiere, when Phil Titus—the winemaking arm of the dynamic duo—offered us a taste of his estate Napa Zinfandel. After congratulating him on earning two 100-point scores from Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate for his work at Chappellet, we stuck our noses in the glass, sipped, and without missing a beat asked for an allocation right then and there.  

The wine we tasted was Phil’s under-the-radar 2016 Titus Vineyards Zinfandel, which marries the classic, ripe, inky concentration of California Zinfandel with the complexity of Napa’s impeccable terroir in a red that’s a natural match with summertime favorites (and damn good on its own too).

This 2016 Titus Zin owes its deep-berry concentration to a patch of 40-year-old Zinfandel vines that Titus and his brother Eric planted along the Silverado Trail just north of St. Helena. The sandy soils and old-vine pedigree produce a pure and structured expression of Napa Zinfandel, compact but light on its feet. 

The 2016 vintage is drinking beautifully today, but even Zinfandel has the potential to develop significant complexities, which is why we suggest buying at least six bottles, enjoying a few this summer, and hiding a few under the table for summers to come.