AMERICAN WINE

ROBERT PARKER'S WINE ADVOCATE 91 POINTS - "The 2017 Chardonnay Estate opens with notes of toast, cream, lemon pith and hay over a core of Red Delicious apple and banana chips. The medium-bodied palate is rounded and creamy with toasty spice and honey notions, finishing long and lifted with juicy acidity."

WINE SPECTATOR 91 POINTS - "Intense and well-structured, with flavors of Bosc pear, Fuji apple and ruby grapefruit, supported by firm acidity. Dried savory herb notes linger on the fresh, pure-tasting finish. Drink now through 2023."

Hartford Family Winery began back in 1994 by Don and Jennifer Hartford. Since their inaugural release in 1996, Hartford has continued to produce wines with lots of personality and charisma. The single vineyard wines they produce range from as little as 90 to 800 cases and receive high accolades from the top wine critics. The Old Vine Zinfandel is produced from true old vines planted 80-100 years ago from some of California's oldest Zinfandel vineyards.

The Mount Peak story begins more than a century ago at the celebrated Monte Rosso Vineyard (one of the truly great vineyards in Sonoma County) and culminates with the revival of Mount Peak Winery, a vistige of one of California's ghost wineries. These wines are inspired by this great place, and the new owners pay tribute to the extraordinary winery that once stood there by capturing its enduring spirit in the wine.

Rattlesnake Zinfandel is tribute to the crest called Rattlesnake Hill, the highest point of the Monte Rosso Vineyard and a site famous for rattlesnakes living among the vines. During the day, the snakes seek the abundant sunshine and in the evening, the coil inside and around the vines. This Zinfandel is fulled with an alluring mouthwatering quality with robust flavors that includes rupe blueberries, blackberries, cherry jam and fig all tied together by a brambly undertone. Accents of white pepper, licorice, and smoke weave through the wine, deepening throughout the luscious finish.

JEB DUNNUCK 93 POINTS - "The 2016 Zinfandel Cortina offers more complexity in its earth dark fruits, underbrush, Caramelized cherries, and spice. Rich, medium to full-bodied, with ripe tannins and a solid sense of purity and freshness, this is a classy yet pleasure bent Zinfandel that will keep for a decade."

ROBERT PARKER'S WINE ADVOCATE 90+ POINTS - "The 2016 Zinfandel Cortina is medium ruby in color and youthfully coiled on the nose, taking its time to release scents of sliced nectarine, rhubarb, boysenberry and blueberry accented by dried flowers, warm earth, garrigue and loads of spiciness. The palate is still tight and reticent to show its juicy fruits. It has a soft texture and very pleasing, juicy acidity, finishing long. I suspect this will reward another couple of years in bottle. 2,458 cases produced."

WINE SPECTATOR 92 POINTS - "Brooding and appealingly briary, with dark cherry, fresh sage and smoked pepper flavors that persist toward broad-shouldered tannins. Best from 2020 through 2027. 2,458 cases made."