Turley Zinfandel Juvenile Organic
Shh, don’t tell anyone, as Turley hardly ever allows their wines to be sold in retail shops, but we know a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy, and voila, we’re able to sell some Turley to you, our beloved club members!
In 1993, having sold his stake in Frog’s Leap, Larry Turley started Turley Wine Cellars, north of St. Helena along Highway 29. Determined to build around single-vineyard Zinfandel as well as Petite Sirah, he secured grapes for his first vintage from three Napa sites: Hayne Vineyard, within the city limits of St. Helena and planted in 1903; Moore Earthquake Vineyard, which lies northeast of the city of Napa and dates from 1906; and the 25-year-old Aida Vineyard, 200 yards north of Turley’s winery.
Turley’s wines leave no room for ambivalence. Many consumers consider the rich, concentrated reds iconic, while others find the “big boys,” as Turley calls some bottlings, stylistically over-the-top. There is a two-year waiting list to buy his wines, and fiercely loyal customers have been known to compose poems and name pets in their honor.
Turley and winemaker Tegan Passalacqua craft some thirty-four wines (!), the vast majority of which are single vineyard designate Zinfandels and Petite Sirahs. By focusing on old vine vineyards in particular, Turley aims to both create and preserve California’s unique winemaking culture. All of their vineyards are either certified organic by California Certified Organic Farmers or somewhere in the process, and they use all natural yeasts in the fermentations.
Winery notes: “Though the vast majority of our wines are single vineyard designates, Juvenile is actually composed of a variety of young vines that have been replanted in several of our old vine sites. We tag the vine when we replant it so as not to mix the brand new vine with its much older neighbors, then pick these young vines separately and make a distinct wine. The vines that make up Juvenile range in age from about 6-25 years, and we pull from 15 of our vineyards across California, including Hayne, Ueberroth, Pesenti, Salvador, and Vineyard 101.”