Birichino Saint Georges Zinfandel 2021

Alex Krause has the Besson Zinfandel vines to thank for his nickname, “El Carnicero” (the butcher). Many passes are made through the old Zinfandel block each year, pruning out underripe, raisined or less-than-perfect berries and losing up to 80% of the crop in any given year. “It’s a miserable grape”, he tells us, only half-joking. After swearing they would never make a Zinfandel, Alex and John now make three. The first vintage of the Saint Georges Zinfandel was produced in 2013, a year of immaculate growing conditions and fruit quality. The boys succumbed to the charm of the site, the fruit and the man himself, George Besson. “We were duped,” Alex laughs, referring to the false sense of security the plain-sailing debut lulled them into. The Zinfandel vines were, by all accounts, planted by an Italian bootlegger in 1922. Rooted in granite and sandy loams, Besson’s ungrafted Zinfandel benefits from morning and afternoon sun, while the unusually fresh marine-moderated night-time temperatures permit full expression and flavour development without reaching high potential alcohol levels. The yields from these well-established, own-rooted vines are meagre, averaging just one tonne per acre.

To showcase the grape’s fresh, nuanced, silky side, the Birichino boys pick their Zin early, usually between 13 and 13.5% potential alcohol. At the same time, the low-impact winemaking is geared towards balancing the fresh acidity and juicy fruit offered by this unique Santa Cruz vineyard. In 2021―a cool, even year―the fruit reached equilibrium at 13.5% towards the end of October. This was significantly later than the previous year but a full degree lower (2020 was 14.5%). “It’s very similar to our first vintage,” Alex tells us, referring to the year of the immaculate duping, “so perfumed and suave.” Fermented with 10% stems layered throughout after destemming, the wine matures for nine months in neutral wood before being bottled unfiltered. A return to the classic Birichino style, the 2021 Saint Georges Zinfandel is a million miles away from the brawny, hulk-like examples of big-brand Zinfandel.