In today’s Seattle Times, Wine Guy Paul Gregutt poses a mouthful of a question, “What is the foolproof, all-weather, any-food, surefire celebration Fourth of July wine?” His beyond-any-doubt answer? “There is only one possible answer: zinfandel.” The sharp and worthy read goes on to describe a brief history of the country’s native grape, noting the meteoric rise of the Skittles-sweet white zins that were as ubiquitous as white polyester in ’70s and beyond. Fortunately, “Zinfandel has since been reclaimed, rediscovered as the great red wine it truly can be.” He argues that while zinfandel is grown and made all over California, Sonoma County (particularly Dry Creek) – wink, wink - is the epicenter for many of the greatest examples. We tend to agree and are pretty damned happy he included “The Reverend” Zinfandel in his case of twelve recommended zins. So scoop up some zin up for your Fourth, or any and all other summer celebrations. And hurry, because supplies of our 92-point (Wine Enthusiast) offering are extremely limited.

As told by Mikey Smith, Roshambo Winery’s cellar rat/winemaker, and official “good time guy.”

For ages, Carignane (pronounced ‘karin-YAN’) was the most most widely planted red wine grape in the world. The high-yielding fruit is heavy in acidity, tannins and color, which makes it ideal for blending, but… not always so great for drinking. Because of its reputation as a blending grape, the joke is that Carignane is “always the bridesmaid, never the bride.” Jancis Robinson, editor of The Oxford Companion to Wine, has even gone so far as to call the grape “the bane of the European wine industry.” Though she does note that old Carignane vines with interesting terroir can produce distinctive, characterful wines. The point is, there is a lot of Carignane in the world… and most of it sucks. But with so many Carignane plantings out there, there’s the occasional gem.

Cut to the fall of 2004, when an Alexander Valley grape grower named Jerry Angeli showed up at our facility with a bin of freshly-picked Carignane. He didn’t have a buyer lined up for the fruit, and was essentially going door-to-door. As you might imagine, this isn’t how grapes are usually sold, but “the cellar rats” of our winemaking team immediately saw the potential. The fruit was outstanding. Carignane is one of those vines that produce a better wine the worse they look, and his vines were hideous - gnarled, twisted beasts planted in dead-looking soil. What few grapes he had growing on them were small, sad looking things. PERFECT, we thought. And so, we rallied support from our quarterback, Naomi, and started making a small lot of Carignane for our Party Army Wine Club. She even named it in honor of us cellar rats who championed the fruit. Our ‘04 and ‘05 vintages were stellar, and after imbibing in the soon-to-be released 2006 vintage this evening, we’re just as excited. With aromas of blueberry, black cherry, sweet smoke, cinnamon, and nutmeg, “the rat” is finally ready to step up to the alter, pull back her veil, and kiss all the naysayers goodbye.