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Drifting is crafted by Ironstone Vineyards, one of the giants of California wine located in none other than Lodi. The numbers are incredible. Their 7,000 acre estate combined with an additional 100,000 acres which they share with 75 growers makes them the 6th largest grape grower in the state. They incredibly account for 37% of all the Zinfandel produced in California.
The German-born founder, John Kautz, settled in Lodi in 1926 and went about establishing what would become Ironstone Vineyards. The company is run by the 5th generation and has developed wines from several outstanding appellations including Napa, Sonoma and Santa Barbara counties. Ironstone has become synonymous with Zinfandel which means they have something to prove with every bottle they produce. They have worn the moniker well. Every time they bring us one of their wines, we are stupefied.
Zinfandel was the darling of winemakers dating back to the 60s and 70s. Unfortunately, that's what lead to its demise. We used to call it the "winemakers new toy" because it was so plentiful that everybody tried to make something different. While a noble effort, it confused the daylights out of the consumers. When they picked up a bottle of Zinfandel they didn't know what they were getting. It could be dry, sweet, red, white, rose or a combination.
The confusion lead the consumer to abandon the grape and so did most of the producers. Ironstone had a history to uphold so this fruit laden beauty offers gobs of strawberry jam with vanilla and earth sweeping into a dramatic finish.
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