You are bidding on the full roster of Zepaltas Wines - one bottle of each of their top wines from the 2008 vintage. This "set" of wines is from a Sonoma County boutique winery and, frankly, a Sonoma County secret. The set includes 5, 750ml bottles. This is a rare chance to get an entire set of one winery's vintage (and some bottles have not been released yet). Enjoy!

You will get one bottle of each of the following:

2008 “Babushka” Russian River Chardonnay
2008 La Cruz Vineyard Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir
2008 Suacci Vineyard Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir
2008 Nunes Vineyard Russian River Pinot Noir
2008 W.E. Bottoms Vineyard Russian River Pinot Noir

About Zepaltas Wines:

Zepaltas Wines is the vision of Winemaker, Ryan Zepaltas.  Since 2004, our goal has been to produce age-able, elegant & food friendly wines from California’s best cool coastal vineyards. Pinot Noir is the main focus, but we also produce small lots of Syrah and Chardonnay.  Zepaltas total case production is 800 cases.

Winemaker, Ryan Zepaltas moved from his native state of Wisconsin in 1998 - mostly just to be a skateboard bum (not really knowing much about wine). His first wine job as a cellar hand at La Crema Winery taught him the basics of winemaking. After a pair of vintages at La Crema, Ryan headed to New Zealand to work for Villa Maria. It was during his third vintage that Ryan realized winemaking was his passion. He then headed back to the Russian River Valley, and started working for Adam & Dianna Lee of Siduri Wines & Novy Family Winery where he works as the Assistant Winemaker.

In 2004, Ryan purchased his first grapes and hit the ground running. In fall 2007, Zepaltas was named one of the “Hot New Dozen of California Pinot Noir” by the Wine Spectator and has built a cult following for his cool climate Pinot Noir, Syrah & Chardonnays.

2008 "Babushka" Russian River Chardonnay 

The "Babushka" line, was named for the women in winemaker's family.

On the nose this wine is exotic, showing just slight hints of guava, kiwi and pears. As the wine opens up, you are reminded that this is Chardonnay. Aromas of wet stones, slight vanilla and a bit of toastiness round out the profile. In the mouth the wine is crisp, ultra-clean and a bit of a chalky finish. This wine is rich but without being heavy.

From Cellar Tracker: Recently bottled and, while still showing some shock, this is delicious and a wine of great promise. Perhaps not up to the level of the stunningly good 2007, this is a terrific, refined Chardonnay. A bit of oak on the nose, along with a citrus-laced, mineral-laden nose. In the mouth, zesty and refreshing, with crisp apple fruit and a lemon note, excellent minerality and acidity, and a tremendous finish. This is marvelous, in a featherweight style that will not overwhelm you. A-

2008 La Cruz Vineyard Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir  

In 2008, we added another piece to the puzzle in the La Cruz blend. We started working with some extra fruit from a section at the vineyard that had no official paper work on. I tried picking the brains of the fellow that planted the section. Apparently, the clone planted was from some suitcase cuttings from a famous Burgundy vineyard. Which one Richebourg? La Tache? Bonne Mares? I guess I will never know due to the elusive nature of everyone that I have asked about it. Around the winery it is referred to as “?” clone.

The final blend of this wine is comprised of 31% clone 114, 37% clone 114 and the remaining 32% is the “?” clone. On the nose we get deep aromatics: curry, Chinese 5 spice, earth and a touch of candied fruit (almost like a Grenache from the South of France in a strange way.) There is some good grip in the blend this year due to the whole clusters that we used in the ferments this year, and it helps augment the fruit character. I feel that it has added the backbone that has been missing in La Cruz Vineyard in past vintages. This is by far our most elegant, and refined pinot of the 2008s. It is a precise, pretty wine that will be versatile with all sorts of Pinot-friendly dishes.

From Cellar Tracker: Showing no ill-effects of 2008. No perilous frost or smoke here. Just a pretty, very youthful black cherry, earthy Pinot. A brilliantly velvety texture. Lively acidity. Superior finish. This is quite tasty, if a bit closed, right now, and it has excellent potential. A-

2008 Suacci Vineyard Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir -- March release

The Suacci vineyard is a unique, extremely cool site located in the Sebastopol Hills in Western Sonoma County. It has flavors like no other. The Suacci was aged in barrel for 16 months. The extra few months of barrel time helps the aging process through slight oxidation and helps to round the wine’s palate more.

Upon opening a bottle of this wine there are aromas of wet stones, sheep’s milk cheese, light cherry and a bit of earthy funk. As the wine opens up, the classic Suacci flavors are here: pomegranate, raspberry, and rosemary. This wine is definitely tense and will need some cellaring or decanting to loosen itself up.

Vineyard Location: Blucher Valley, Sebastopol Hills  96 cases made

2008 Nunes Vineyard Russian River Pinot Noir -- March release

I always admired Fred’s enthusiasm and passion for grape growing. Fred is probably more in-tune with his grapevines than any other grower that I have met. He can talk about his vine’s feelings and emotions, and has proven his philosophies by delivering some of the highest quality fruit I’ve seen. When I mean high quality, I mean physiological ripeness, balanced acid & brix, and intense flavors. When we were faced with a heat spike toward the end of the growing season, I feared we would

be harvesting prunes, but Fred knew how to string along the vines by irrigating the exact amount needed for the vines to continue to hang, without getting over ripe, or worse, diluted. The resulting wine that we put together is a blend of 3 clones (40% clone115, 40% clone 777 and 20% clone 114) On the nose there are explosive aromas of rose petal, black cherry and wet stones. The palate is refreshing with flavors of Bing cherry, blueberry, sandalwood and finishes with a long mineral flavor and grippy tannins.

Although this wine will go excellent with food, I believe that it is compelling enough to provoke thought and conversation while being enjoyed on its own. We only bottled 24 cases (1 barrel) of this wine specifically for our mailing list customers. You will not find this wine anywhere except from us.

2008 Pinot Noir - W. E. Bottoms Vineyard Russian River Valley -- March release

We set out in 2008 to make a wine that we could offer you at a great price, but still represent the quality and character that you have come to expect from our cellar here at Zepaltas Wines. Not only is there a bit of pressure to have a wine at a friendly price these days, it is something we wanted to do already. We understand very well that a good bottle of Pinot Noir should not be just a special occasion wine, and that there is a need for a wine that can be somewhat of an everyday wine. Well, we believe that we have created a wine that is truly sensational, but also represents what we are trying to do-food friendly wines that are balanced, layered and possess texture. We started creating this blend by sourcing fruit from the Nunes Vineyard in the Russian River Valley. Then after numerous blending trials, we began to toy with a couple barrels of W.E. Bottoms Vineyard and then at the last minute we felt that a touch of the Suacci Vineyard was the final piece to the puzzle.

Immediately, this wine’s aromatics jump out of the glass: black cherry, tobacco, and allspice. The Russian River’s palate is structured and taught, but refreshing and bright. A slight grip of tannin gives the wine presence and fills out the finish. The mouth feel is powerful, and dense, and is a great candidate for those roasted fall dishes. This wine definitely has the framework to age at least 3 years, but is very accessible now.

From Cellar Tracker: A slight step ahead in development and completeness than the La Cruz at this stage. A really marvelous wine, full of bright cherry fruit, spice, and minerals. Delightful to drink, with terrific mouth feel that caresses your palate. Lively acidity. Excellent finish. A-