A special word of thanks to Drew Bayer of Leonhardt who was kind enough to speak to me about this wine, Howard Leonhard, his co-workers, their vineyard and collective vision for creating amazing Zinfandel. Cheers Drew!

Leonhardt 2008 Dry Creek Zinfandel Reserve

The Wine: What do you get when you cross an incredibly benevolent and successful entrepreneur with a great wine maker, a solid estate vineyard, a highly acclaimed vineyard manager and a stellar jack-of-all-trades salesman? You get Leonhardt, founded in 2003. Here’s a wine I’m excited to talk about. To start with, you should read the bio of the man who gives this vineyard its namesake, Howard Leonhardt. Howard is one of those guys that what ever he touches seems to turn to gold; certainly a result of countless hours of hard work, dedication and surrounding himself with the right people; his wine is no different. Howard was able to bring Michael Dashe of Dashe Cellars on board as their wine maker with a vision of not only a great wine, but a sustainable and compassionate business model. Michael, along with his wife Anne are very highly acclaimed wine makers with 40-plus years of experience at such noted wineries as Château Lafite-Rothschild, Château La Dominique, Ridge Vineyards, Cloudy Bay, Far Niente, Chappellet, and Schramsberg Wine Cellars – whoa. All great wine starts off in the vineyard. Leonhardt has an ideally located estate vineyard with 100 year old vines on a Dry Creek hillside giving the grapes access to the perfect blend of sunshine and fog exposure for prime Zinfandel and Petit Sirah grapes. To tend the grapes, Leonhardt has employed an amazingly talented vineyard manager, Ulises Valdez. How talented? Ulises has his own winery, Valdez Family Winery, whose 2008 Silver Eagle Chardonnay was served at the White House when President Obama hosted a State Dinner for Mexican President Felipe Calderón of Mexico. OK, I’m loving this wine. Let’s put some more icing on this already decadent cake, 50% of all the profits are donated to charity. I told you Howard Leonhardt was a benevolent man. So how’s the wine? The Experience: Color: You are going to find an incredibly inviting deep plum violet and incandescent hue of currant red in your glass – awesome. You can tell this wine has substance. Nose: The first impression of this wine are the components associated with barrel aging, oak and vanilla, but both are present in balance with baking spice, light dust and dark juicy berries – quite inviting. Palate: This is where the rubber meets the road and man, is there traction! I write my tasting notes in the order that I experience the components and here are my exact notes: “Dark berries, nutmeg, allspice, juicy, proper spice, eggnog, less sweet but not exactly dry. Vanilla finish, with some length.” Bottom Line: Buy-A-Case Here’s a wine whose story I didn’t know until after trying it and I have to admit, the story made me love this wine more. It’s a solid offering reflective of both Dry Creek and California Zinfandel. I tasted this wine against another Zin with some other people, everyone preferred the Leonhardt, so my assessment is affirmed in context. This is a Trader Joe’s Hustle Buy of only 1050 cases, at the time of this posting, Trader Joes’ Northern California Warehouse has no more in-stock, meaning what’s on the shelf is it, so buy this while it lasts! If you missed it, I have a strong feeling we might be seeing their 2009 on the shelf of Trader Joe’s sometime in the not too terribly distant future… Wine Info:
  • Winery Website:
    http://www.leonhardtvineyards.com/index.php
  • Appellation: 2008
  • Wine Maker: Michael Dashe
  • Grape Varietals: 86.4% Zinfandel, 13.6% Petit Sirah
  • Alcohol: 14.50%
  • Barrel Aging: 10 months, 20% new French and American Oak
  • pH: 3.7
  • TA: 5
  • SO2: 25ppm
  • RS: .9
  • Fining Agent: None