Retro Cellars G&R Zinfandel 2021
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The Land
The G and R in the name is not a pair of growers. It is Green and Red Vineyard, and the vineyard itself is named for two colors in its dirt: greenish serpentine and rust-red iron-rich volcanic soil, both of which surface across the property. The site sits in Chiles Canyon in the Vaca range, twenty minutes east of the Napa Valley floor and across a ridge from it. The Chiles Valley District AVA was approved in 1999 and runs roughly 6,000 acres with only about 1,000 planted. Vineyard elevations here climb from 800 feet to 1,700, and Green and Red's own blocks span 900 to 1,800 feet across Chiles Mill, Catacula and Tip Top, the last being the highest vineyard in the appellation. Grapes grew on this ground as early as the 1890s, when it was part of Rancho Catacula.
The Wine
Zinfandel from Chiles Valley, dry-farmed on hillside volcanic soils and made with minimal handling in the cellar. 2021 was a drought year in Napa and that is the fact that shapes this bottle. The season opened with almost no rain, berries set small and stayed small, and yields came in low, but the harvest itself was unusually smooth, with a long even ripening window and no heat event to force anyone's hand. Small berries on dry-farmed hillside vines concentrate everything, so the 2021 is dense without being heavy and holds acid through the drought concentration. Dark berry fruit and brightness at the same time, a floral lift over the top, savory earth underneath, with the tannin granular rather than soft. The length comes from the site, not from extraction.
The People
Green and Red was founded in 1977 by Jay Heminway, who bought a nearly 200-acre property and planted about 31 acres to vines, mostly Zinfandel, dry-farmed. Heminway died in 2019, and his wife Pam, daughter Tobin and son-in-law Raymond run it now. Chiles Valley's isolation spared some of its pre-phylloxera plantings, which still produce. Retro Cellars, which buys this fruit, was founded in 2003 by Mike and Kara Dunn on Howell Mountain. Mike's family started Dunn Vineyards in 1978 and Kara's family started Pecota in Calistoga the same year, so both sides come out of the Napa farming generation that predates the modern valley. Retro keeps production under 500 cases a vintage, and their son Alex now farms the estate.
Food Pairing
Mountain Zinfandel with this much savory grip is a grilling wine. Pork chops brined in salt and brown sugar, grilled over coals and finished with a chile-and-vinegar glaze, play fruit against smoke. Merguez sausages off the grill with charred peppers meet the spice side head on. For something slower, a pot of black beans cooked with bacon and smoked paprika, served with rice, handles the tannin better than most red meat does. Carnitas tacos with pickled onion and cilantro work for the same reason: fat plus acid. This is the bottle for the first warm evening of the year when the grill finally comes back out.
We ship wine to most states with a $100 minimum order for shipping. We don't ship spirits nor beer.
Weather shipping advisory: Orders placed during times of extreme heat or extreme cold will be held for no charge until more favorable weather returns.
Zinfandel, a red grape variety with a somewhat mysterious past, is most closely associated with California, where it has become a flagship grape. Genetically equivalent to Italy's Primitivo and Croatia's Crljenak Kaštelanski (and Tribidrag), Zinfandel's journey to California likely occurred in the mid-19th century. The grape thrives in California's warm climate, producing wines that range from sweet rosés (often labeled "White Zinfandel") to bold, full-bodied reds with flavors of blackberry, raspberry, and peach yogurt, often accompanied by higher alcohol levels. Zinfandel's ability to reflect its terroir, along with its versatility in winemaking, has made it a beloved and iconic grape in the American wine landscape.
