The facts: it’s Zinfandel from Dry Creek Valley, it’s all estate grown and bottled, and it’s $15 (even less when you purchase our 6-bottle sampler)!!! I know, I know, sounds too good to be true, right? That’s what I initially thought when the 2008 Claude Thomas Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel was presented to me. My skepticism was further augmented by the homegrown looking label affixed to the bottle, but I’ve been in this business long enough to know that you can’t judge a wine by its outsides. So taste I did and buy I did and taken home and drunk I did. The 2008 Claude Thomas is textbook Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel with dry brambly berry fruit, a hint of cinnamon and freshly cracked black pepper spice. This isn’t a big jam ball (nothing wrong with jam balls by the way), but a brawny, muscular red. Winemaker and proprietor Tom Stanley fondly remembers working with his father on the family farm, including tending to the old vines that were growing on their property. Like so many other families in the valley with small vineyards, they sold their grapes. With the help of friend and neighbor John Hawley, a legend in the California wine industry, Tom finally realized his dream of making his own wine from his own grapes.
Despite the signs: schools are starting, NFL pre-season football games are on TV, the sun is shining in SF– I refuse to accept that summer is coming to an end. To that end I’m going to take a bottle home of the 2008 Claude Thomas Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel to relive all the great moments of summer with each sip of ripe berries mingled with a dusty earth note that emanates from this wine. The 2008 Claude Thomas Zinfandel: A Cure For The End Of Summer Blues. –Anya Balistreri
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