Event

CanarD

Zinfandel 2011

While Canard has become well-known for their Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel, the blends that come from this "dry-farmed" vineyard will captivate you.

"A fairly weighty and rich Zinfandel – both on the bouquet and on the palate. The nose shows lots of spice (black pepper) with ripe rich dominant black fruit aromas. This vintage is smooth upon entry but quickly shows a lot of fruit flavors – with sweet notes of black cherry throughout the palate. The finish goes on “forever” with both fruit, notes of chocolate and alcohol.
We don’t use “beautiful” too often to describe wines – but the Canard Zinfandel is such a wine.  Baking spices, and soft fruit aromas including cranberry and raspberry show – leading to a rounded palate but with a clean finish that shows reasonable structure." 

  Regularly $55.00

Special Sale Price 

$35.00 a bottle

Only $180.00  for 6 bottles

Don’t want to miss the sale?

You will have to call us on this one as quantities are limited, 

703-668-WINE (9463)

Our Thoughts on this wine.....

From one of the oldest Zinfandel vineyards in Napa Valley. Not your typical Zin. This wine is structured, balanced and incredibly elegant. On the nose and upon entry, the wine is a seamless transition of rich, ripe raspberry, cedar, exotic spices and a hint of sage brush. The mid-palate is full bodied with a luscious mouth feel of ripe red cherries and sweet black plums. The finish is long and soft with hints of vanilla bean, coriander and campfire smoke.

About Canard Vineyards ……

Canard Vineyard has been quietly producing small production, hand crafted wines for almost thirty years. Each year we produce eight unique estate wines: Coucher de Soleil Rosé, Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Throwback, Adam’s Blend, The Rescuer, our Reserve Zinfandel and our Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. All of our wines are produced from estate grown grapes which are skillfully transformed into the finest expression of each varietal. We are dedicated to creating wines of distinction with an emphasis on quality over quantity.

The reason they produce Zinfandel is a direct influence of Napa Valley wine pioneers Robert Mondavi and Joe Heitz. After purchasing the property Rich hired a vineyard manager who then recommended he remove the Old Vine Zinfandel growing on the property in favor of a newer higher yielding, more economically viable varietal such as Cabernet Sauvignon. Rich pondered this over and within the first week both Mr. Mondavi and Mr. Heitz had called urging him to preserve this part of the valley’s vineyard history and keep the vines in place. Needless to say, Rich kept the vines and today they range in age from 70 to 110 years old; they are certainly among the oldest planted Zinfandel in the Napa Valley.

You don’t see vines like these much in Napa anymore – they are all head trained – gnarly looking vines if you will – weathered by time yet still resilient and producing fruit, albeit in small quantities. The vines produce merely between 1 to 2 tons per acre. They are dry farmed – the ground is tilled in the spring and enough moisture remains within the soil for the vines to survive the dry months throughout the Summer and into the Fall. During fairly unusual heat spikes where the much newer non Zinfandel vines were stressed to the point of leaves wilting, the old Zinfandel vines showed no visible stressing at all.

The vineyards are all sustainably farmed. The same vineyard manager has been employed for many years and Rich is also involved in the day to day hands on management of the vineyard – as he says of his own vineyard involvement and knowledge, “I know enough to be dangerous.”

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About the Vineyard.....

 Situated on the Northwest corner of Dunaweal Lane and the Silverado Trail in Calistoga, the twenty-five acre property is considered a historic vineyard in Napa Valley. The property was the original homestead of Captain Reason P. Tucker, who gained notoriety for leading the efforts to rescue the survivors of the ill fated Donnor Party. The residence at Canard was built in 1859 and quickly became the center of social activity in the area during the late 1800’s. Zinfandel was planted over 120 years ago and remarkably those dry farmed vines still stand, yielding a small quantity of incredibly elegant fruit which goes into our highly coveted Reserve Zinfandel.

Over the years, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and of course our Cabernet Sauvignon were planted and have been meticulously cared for using painstaking but extremely effective vineyard practices. Creating wine at this level demands a great deal of discernment and sacrifice and most of it takes place in the vineyard. The result is the culmination of what man and nature can do when they work together in harmony..