Ravenswood Vineyard Designate Wines

California's Russian River means different things to different people. For the original natives, it was a life-giving cornucopia of fish, game, fruits and berries. For Russian trappers, it was a vast bank of sea-otter pelts. For the Americans who came later, it was a place of enormous redwoods, a prime spot for growing apples, finally a source of summertime inner-tube inspiration.

For wine buffs, it usually means cool-climate grapes like Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. But away from the coast, the Russian River has a different character. From its source in the Mendocino County highlands, its whitewater tumbles down past Cloverdale into the Alexander Valley, then winds through the hills behind Healdsburg before passing north of Santa Rosa to assume its familiar, civilized role. It's in the unpeopled sector of central Sonoma County that Ravenswood's Big River Zinfandel is grown. Despite the notoriety that surrounds it to the north, south, east and west, this spot remains a world of its own—a still, silent, secret realm that almost seems like something from Tolkien, existing outside time.

More than a hundred years ago, some enterprising and investigative Italians noticed a similarity between this place and the winegrowing regions from which they'd immigrated. They knew that hillsides had good drainage and they appreciated deep red soil, so they planted vines on the slopes above a big bend in the river—then watched them flourish. Straddling the modern-day border between the Russian River and Alexander Valley grapegrowing appellations, this unique area enjoys the benefits of both—the moderating riparian influence tempers the fog-free warmth, which is shielded from westerly winds by the looming mass of Fitch Mountain. Average daily temperatures here are five degrees cooler than those to the north and east, but five degrees warmer than those to the south and west.

Under the stewardship of Scott and Lynn Adams, Big River is the most meticulously farmed vineyard that Ravenswood has the privilege of using. It's not an exaggeration to say that it's coddled by two mothers: Nature and Nurture. Its grapes respond with healthy, exuberant flavors that, if anything, tip toward the inland direction of Alexander Valley: rich, ripe, soft, round, plush, plummy and spicy. It's an amalgam of attributes that gives new meaning to the term Russian River.

FLAVOR PROFILE:				Black cherries, plums and vanilla, and hints at dill and mint


Location				Alexander Valley

Acreage				14 acres

Year planted				About 1893

Soil type				Very old, cobbly, volcanic, red clay loam

Climate				High bench, above fog line, but straddles the Alexander Valley and the Russian River Valley, so has cooling breezes late afternoon

Elevation				About 500 feet

Exposure				On a knoll, so mostly gentle slope to the west, but some southern, some northern

Spacing				8'X8'

Yield				Between 2 and 3 tons per acre

Varietals				100% Zinfandel

Rootstock				St. George