2023 Late Harvest Zinfandel
This Zinfandel dessert wine has it all! Its balance of sweetness, acidity, alcohol, and ripe fruit flavors is outstanding. The taste is decadence in a glass; an exquisite, delicious wine with flavors of cassis, sweet cherry pie, honey, and melted dark chocolate. Cherry and jammy-plum aromas lead to a fragrant and powerful finish. There’s a subtle note of earthy spice on the back end with baked pie crust and red velvet flavors holding in the mid-palate. The texture is super agreeable and charming. It's framed with raisin and prune and wears its high alcohol with ease. Drink upon release, this wine will continue to improve well past 2030.
My son, Abraham Frankel, and I transported the grapes from the vineyard and back to our winery using my flatbed trailer. Only 2.55 tons total were harvested. Right away, Abraham and I noticed not only how incredibly sweet these grapes tasted, but also how healthy and plump the berries looked. Upon arriving at our winery, we offloaded and crushed the grapes immediately and noted that the BRIX was averaging about 24.0 even. The following day the BRIX climbed to 25.0, and three days post crush had jumped to a whopping 28.0! Now we have a late harvest wine in the making! This time we tank fermented the lot in our smallest stainless tank. This enabled us to chill it down during the 2-week long fermentation, thus slowing its pace and ensuring that the yeast would not build up too much heat. To my surprise, the wine finished primary fermentation at 16.8% alcohol with just a small amount of sugar untouched. We drained the tank and pressed the skins, followed by a winter racking and frequent topping of the barrels. I bottled the entire lot (5 total barrels); producing 240 cases of this Late Harvest.
| Download Wine Notes |
| Vintage | 2023 |
| Varietal | Zinfandel |
| Varietal Composition | 100% Zinfandel |
| Appellation | Paso Robles |
| Vineyard | Duane Jardine |
| Harvest Date | 10/10/2023 |
| Acid | 0.75 |
| PH | 3.35 |
| Residual Sugar | 2.50% |
| Alcohol | 16.80% |
| Volume | 500 ml |
| Bottling Date | 05/16/2024 |
| Cases Produced | 240 |
| Country of Origin | UNITED STATES |
| State of Origin | California |
Once again, in 2023, we elected to use Duane Jardine’s Zinfandel vines for our Late Harvest Zinfandel. The vintage was perfect for top-quality Late Harvest. In fact, Duane’s crop load more than doubled from the previous year, as the record-breaking off-season rains significantly impacted his vines for the better! The vineyard is located at the crossing of Adelaide and Nacimiento Lake Drive. The vines are dry-farmed and solely rely on rainwater. Also, the vines are “head trained” in a goblet fashion. This old-world method is typical for dry-farmed vineyards in California. The vineyard is super steep and can only be worked with a track layer tractor… everything about this vineyard is a serious farming challenge. The soils are rocky, featuring limestone and shale sections at the very top of the rows. Each vine only hangs 4 to 6 clusters per vine, and the canes only grow to 4 feet in length. The grapes were hand-harvested at sunrise on October 10, 2023, using a 10-man picking crew.
Paul’s Background
Winemaking and grape growing is Paul’s passion! From an early age, he showed interest and excellence in science, botany, and chemistry. Most of all, Paul loved the outdoors and working with his hands. Growing up on the property, Paul has been able to study the Frankel Ranch property throughout his life, making him very well-versed in soil types and meso-climates on the estate. His love for farming shows through in the quality of his wines. He has conducted numerous vineyard and winemaking experiments that have resulted in award-winning wines.
Paul’s father, Dr. Warren Frankel, planted the 125-acre vineyard, built the winery, and opened the tasting room in October 2007. Paul was mentored by winemakers Shannon O’Neil and Jason Bushong and graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a Bachelor’s Degree in Viticulture and Enology. While in college, he interned at the Cal Poly Pilot Winery and worked two seasons at Maloy O’Neill Winery. Paul took two fall quarters off to make Sculpterra’s wines. His first vintage as a head winemaker was in 2008, making 19 tons. Paul puts in 14-hour days during harvest, conducting the pick, crush, and press.
