Description
The son of Italian immigrants, Elso’s love for wine began on his family’s vineyard in Zoppola, Fruili Italy. In the early 1970s, Elso purchased 11 acres of vineyard in the Russian River Valley, where he meticulously tended the grapes. In the late 1990s, Elso traveled back to the old country, where he removed cuttings from his family’s historic block, smuggling them back in his suitcase, then grafting them to his Santa Rosa vineyard. Though Elso passed away just after the 2020 vintage was harvested, his spirit lives on in his grapes, which are now lovingly farmed by his two sons.These old vines are the type folks pull over on the side of the road to paint. Juicy raspberry fruit greets the palate as wafts of licorice and cinnamon saturate the senses. Pleasant loganberries and faint prune jam reminisce of an earlier era Zin. In the mouth, there’s a tease of a sweet spot, though it finishes dry, lingering for a while with aftertastes of long ago days of molasses and baker’s chocolate in the pantry. This gentleman of a Zin can be at the table as an old friend would invite himself, or he could sit outside with a pipe or a cigar to officiate the waning sun.
