2022 Ramazzotti Zinfandel Estate Grown Alexander Valley 750 ml

The Ramazzotti story starts in Italy's Le Marche, on the Adriatic coast, and lands in Sonoma in 1958, when a young Giuseppe—Joe—arrived in the Dry Creek Valley with his parents and sisters. They came with a farmer's instincts and a deep Italian feel for the land, and they never really put those down.

Joe went on to study pomology, the science of growing fruit, at Chico State, then spent decades managing and farming vineyards across Dry Creek and Alexander Valley. By the time he and his wife Norma opened their own winery in Geyserville in 2002, he wasn't a newcomer making a first vintage. He was a grower who'd spent a working life in these rows finally putting his own name on the label.

That grower's perspective is the whole point of this wine. The fruit comes off a vineyard on the Alexander Valley floor, planted back in 1974. Ramazzotti took over its care about a decade ago, and those old vines—trained low in a raised single cordon—give small, concentrated berries, exactly the kind of fruit you want from Zinfandel.

In the cellar, the approach stays refreshingly simple: 100% Zinfandel, two years in used French oak that frames the wine without piling on toast and vanilla. Just 250 cases were made. It's a small, hands-on production from a family that would rather tend their own old vines than chase trophy fruit.

In the glass, it's a deep, dark ruby-violet, with aromas of plum and violet tangled up with something like chocolate brownie and baking spice. The palate is big by every measure—like biting into a ripe, juicy plum—but the tannins stay silky and the finish lingers.

It's the kind of Zin that's as happy next to a pizza in Geyserville, where the Ramazzottis pour it close to home, as it is on your own table alongside grilled meats or a Sunday ragù.