We aren’t ready to make some sweeping statement about some sort of Zinfandel rennaissence. There are a number of econiomic things working against that. So we’ll just chalk it up to random chance that we have come across a surprising number of really outstanins over the last few weeks. A number of them have a really limited audiences at the $50 and up pricing that seems to baseline for many of the top producers. But we have run across that have given us hope that California’s historic varietal has a future.
Jeff Gaffner has been around the industry a long time ( for you old timers, since he started with Richard Arrowood when he was at Chateau St. Jean). He created his own label, Saxon Brown, pulling name inspiration from the Jack London novel ‘Valley of the Moon’. As the notes reporterd, “Jeff always thought that if he had a daughter, he would name her Saxon Brown after the willful heroine of Jack London’s iconic novel… In 1997, after having two sons, Jeff decided to re-purpose the name he loved for his new wine label.”
We have known Jeff for a while. He is the definition of the ‘independent winemaker’. He has very specific ideas about how things should and the talent to make very stylish wines. He has a number of side gigs as well including Stephanie by Hestan, Black Kite, and Modicum (the in house label for French Laundry).
His style is a bit more ‘old school’ and bold, but the results are usually pretty tasty. Within the context of our recent spate of memorable Zinfandels we were presented this classic, Saxon Brown Zinfandel Fighting Brothers 2018. Named tongue in cheek after his two sons, this is what the varietal can be. It’s mouthfilling with a broad presentation of brambly, dark berry fruit, spice, and a healthy but well mesh dose of sweet wood notes. ‘Big Zin’ but balanced, pure and very expressive. In other words, a Zin lover’s Zin without the rough edges.
The Wine Spectator review does it justice, “Supple and jammy, with rich and multilayered berry cobbler and toasty spice flavors that expand and flesh out on the zesty finish. Drink now through 2029…93 Points.”
The price on that Wine Spectator review was $48, an acceptable tab in the current marketplace given the performance. We’d have bought a little at that price but, $29.98, we were a lot more interested. Delicious, classic Zin.