Zepaltas Wines

--92 points Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar

The Suacci vineyard is a unique site that has flavors like no other. It can be funky before giving it a
bit of air. It definitely needs a couple years to relax in bottle for the signature racy acidity to
integrate. All of this is ok with me, I set out to make wines this way. I want a wine to need time.
My favorite wine moments have been with wines that have stood the test of time. If I could show
the 2005 vintage to you right now, you would see that it is just starting to show what it is all
about.

I decided to age the Suacci in barrel for 16 months as opposed to my normal 11 month aging
regime on my Pinot Noirs. I have tasted a lot of friend’s wines that age their wines for this long
and I love the results (and hey they do it longer in burgundy right?) The extra few months of
barrel time adds a slight bit more natural oxidation and seems to round the wine out a bit more.
Upon opening a bottle of this wine there are aromas of wet stones, sheep’s milk cheese, light
cherry and a bit of earthy funk. As the wine opens up, the classic Suacci flavors are here:
pomegranate, raspberry, and rosemary. This wine is definitely tight and will need some
cellaring/decanting to loosen itself up.