Seawolf Venturi Vineyard Zinfandel Mendocino 2021

Jesse & Emma Hall, founders of Seawolf Wines, share two loves in life:  the sea and winemaking.  Each embraced passions for water sports like competitive sailing, surfing, and water polo at a young age with initial plans to live out those career paths.  With time, though, each found their way to the world of wine, working harvest internships and studying viticulture around the world, and eventually made their way to winemaking in Mendocino County, where the Pacific Ocean has an exceptional impact on the grapes grown in the region.  Having so significantly influenced the early stages of their lives; it is fitting that the sea would be a highlight for their debut family brand, where they aim to showcase the maritime-influenced, organic vineyards of Mendocino County. 

For Jesse Hall, picking a third love would be easy, and that would be Zinfandel.  In addition to growing up on an organic Zinfandel vineyard and watching his father and grandfather craft Zinfandel in the family barn, Jesse credits a specific bottle of Marietta Cellars Angeli Cuvee with sparking his interest in this classic California varietal.  His enthusiasm extends to volunteering with Zinfandel Advocates and Producers promoting California Zinfandel grape growers and winemakers. And to top it all off, Jesse secured the role of Assistant Winemaker at Martinelli Winery & Vineyards in 2008, working under the celebrated and iconic winemaker Helen Turley.  Helen’s mentorship meant Jesse received a formidable education in natural winemaking processes and learned how to work with outstanding, organic sites like Jackass Hill Vineyard, which is home to 130-plus-year-old Zinfandel vines. 

Jesse’s experience with old-vine Zinfandel paid off when he and Emma were presented with an opportunity to make wine from Larry Venturi’s organic vineyard.  The 75-year-old Zinfandel vineyard is in Calpella, Mendocino, a town lovingly nicknamed Little Italy as an homage to the Italian immigrants who pioneered the grape growing in the region.  Larry is the fourth generation of the Venturis to care for the gnarly, head-trained vineyard planted to a clone of Zinfandel carried over from Italy by his ancestors.  His techniques are not far off from those of his predecessors, as the vineyard is dry-farmed using organic practices.  Jesse and Emma embraced Larry’s hands-off vineyard management, continuing the approach in their winemaking of the small yield of concentrated berries.  

The 2021 Zinfandel underwent native fermentation before an 11-month aging process on the lees in a one-year-old French oak barrel.  The couple bottled (unfined and unfiltered) just 41 cases of this wine.  When tasting, Jesse & Emma detect “juicy Santa Rosa plum, orange rind, and subtle chocolate expressive notes.”  Cooling, evening breezes from the Pacific help maintain a bracing acidity that livens the palate, highlighting brambly wild blueberries, strawberry leather, and sweet tobacco.  Dive into a bottle of the Seawolf Venturi Zinfandel and indulge in a pure, unadulterated expression of California Zinfandel.