And We’re Not Talking About Celebrity Obituaries
Nothing combines stability and simplicity like a three-legged stool. Trinitas Cellars practices winemaking raised to the third power.
Just look at the very name of the winery. Owners Tim & StephBusch say it symbolizes (appropriately enough) three different things.First up, there’s the Christian Trinity of Father, Son, and HolySpirit. If you believe that God put grapes here for us, what better wayto say thanks than by turning them into transcendent Zinfandel? Thenthere are the three essential wine ingredients, according to Trinitas:sun, soil, and humanity.
Finally, there are the three C’s in Contra CostaCounty. Zinfandel partisans will certainly recognize the name as thepremier growing area for Zin in the United States. They’ve been growingwine grapes in CC County long enough thatProhibition cramped their style for a little while. But only for alittle while. And the county’s sandy soils protected the rootstock fromthe phylloxera epidemic that wiped out vineyards in large swaths ofNapa and Sonoma. So today most of the vines in Contra Costa are between85 and 135 years old, making them the green eminences of the Californiavine family.
And then there’s our favorite Trinitas trio:the three bottles you see before you today. A wild 2005 growing seasonbrought cold, wet weather early on; unseasonable warmth in March; thena cool late spring that threatened to produce unevenly mature fruit.But a sunny, warm summer and the hardiness of these old vines saved theday. Our palate says the 2005 Zinfandel and 2005 Mataro came through itjust fine. The former is a classic CCC Zinwith an exuberant black fruit character laced with white pepper, spice,coffee, chocolate, and vanilla. The dark ruby Mataro – which you mayknow as Mourvedre – hails from a very small vineyard of some of thecounty’s oldest vines, and comes bearing rich notes of black raspberry,vanilla, plum, black pepper, and chocolate. A splash of Petite Sirahenhances the color and structure, producing a red that cries out forgrilled lamb with rosemary or grilled pork chops with olive tapenade.
Freefrom all that growing-season drama, the 2004 Zinfandel Bigalow Vineyardgot an early start with a warm spring and enjoyed a mild, foggy summerfor one of the best vintages in recent memory. The 120-year-old,dry-farmed, sandy-soiled Bigalow Vineyard didn’t hurt, either – nor didthe small amount of Mataro grapes field-blended into this wine. Apowerful examplar of the Oakley terroir’s dusty raspberry andblackberry flavors, this Zinfandel is what people mean when they talkabout Contra Costa County Zin.
The soil, the sun, the skill.The Trinitas philosophy holds that they all must come together toproduce wine worthy of the Trinitas label. And they put that philosophyinto action every day – three bottles at a time, of course.
2004 Zinfandel Bigalow Vineyard:
- Alcohol: 14.5%
- Total Acidity: 0.77g
- pH: 3.55
- Cases Produced: 576
2005 Mataro Old Vine:
- Alcohol: 14.5%
- Total Acidity: 0.76g
- pH: 3.41
- Cases Produced: 367
2005 Old Vine Zinfandel
- Alcohol: 14.5%
- Total Acidity: 0.70g
- pH: 3.48
- Cases Produced: 2,501
Rules and restrictions:
- Wine sold by winery (or a retailer in your state where necessary)
- You must be 21 or older to order
- Whoever receives the package must be 21 or older
- If you're drunk when the package shows up, you will not be allowed to receive it
- Wine cannot be delivered to a P.O. Box
- We highly recommend you use a business address as your shipping address
Thanks to stick-in-the-mud buzzkilling state legislators, wine may only be delivered to the following states:
- Arizona
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- District Of Columbia
- Florida
- Georgia
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Iowa
- Louisiana
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oregon
- South Carolina
- Texas
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
If your state's not on the list, you're out of luck... for now. Keep up with the ever-changing laws over at ShipCompliantBlog.com, and/or sound the alarms with your state assembly person through FreeTheGrapes.org. Meanwhile, all Federal, state and local laws are complied with in providing this wine.
