Stuhlmuller Vineyards Zinfandel Dry Creek Valley 2023

Extraordinary is the name of this game – 94 POINT Zinfandel – that swaps out super-ripe and jammy fruits for sleek elegance and incredible structure…and we scored it for a WHOPPING 73% OFF! 

“The antithesis of jammy…one heck of a structured and finely made Zin.” – Decanter 

NOW we are talking! Stuhlmuller! These folks might be based in Alexander Valley, but they just dropped what might well be my FAVORITE Dry Creek Zinfandel of all-time!!! Bone-dry, crazy complex, and utterly seamless – this BEAST is well worth the $75 winery price…but TODAY?! Now?! For one solitary Andrew “Action” Jackson??? Let’s GOOOOOO!

Y’all surely remember Stuhlmuller, right? You gobbled up their RRV Pinot Noir some weeks back, and they’ve been growing some of Sonoma’s best grapes for over four decades. Some of Napa’s and Sonoma’s best (Souverain and Simi, to name a few) bought their fruit, and then, in the mid-90s, the second generation, Fritz, decided to keep some of the fruit and make his own wines. Dang…am I ever glad he did!!! 

Any of you card-carrying ZAP members know the legendary Rafanelli family – and Doug’s RIDGE-adjacent plot on a northern corner of the Dry Creek AVA loans supplies some 60% of this baby. The final hunk comes from the way, way up there vineyard farmed by the Gustafsons at some 1700 feet, overlooking Lake Sonoma. And…I’ll say again…WHAT A WINE!

Fresh blueberries and tart cranberries, with crushed raspberries, sweet/earthy tomato leaf, and a power-inducing kick of heady kirsch. Plenty of fruit – it is Zinfandel after all – but the quality of fruit is so bright, and fresh, and vibrant, without any saccharine heaviness. POMEGRANATE…yes!!! And then comes the SPICES!!! Green peppercorns and rooibos tea, with a nice hint of graphite, and this luxurious vanilla, cedar, and toasted coconut finish. Medium-bodied, with tremendous acidity, and one heck of an intense one-two punch of spice and minerality. I mean 94 POINTS!!! This is as age-worthy and elegant a Zinfandel I’ve tasted in YEARS…and it’s ONLY TWENTY DOLLARS!!! 

Do what you must – this baby is a steal that will continue to impress over the next decade, easily! While it lasts!!!