Lang Wines Zinfandel
In 1972, with decent incomes and discretionary time on our hands, three airline pilots and their wives purchased Twin Rivers Ranch, a 1500-acre property in El Dorado County; after a little thought, and a little too much wine, we determined that we could pay for the property by planting grapes; beginning in 1974, we planted 200-acres of Zinfandel, Barbera & Sauvignon Blanc. An airstrip in the vineyards permitted us to fly from the bay-area to the vineyard in 35-minutes. Great fun, but no increase to cash-flow. By the mid 1980s, a glut of grapes throughout California lowered grape prices to below production costs. Sooo, we needed to convince the market that the quality of our grapes was superior to others. To that goal, Lang Wines produced its first wine, a 1983 Twin Rivers Vineyards Zinfandel. The wine won a Gold medal at the 1985 Orange County Fair Wine Competition. That wine and its other awards, absolutely helped us sell grapes in subsequent years, and many additional Lang Wines TRV Zinfandel awards followed. They’re still coming; the 2008 & 2010 Lang Wines Zinfandels in this Woot are each winners of three Silver Medals. Our 2012 Zinfandel, not yet released, was awarded a Double-Gold medal at the 2014 Amador County Wine Competition. You’ll have a Woot opportunity to buy that wine later this year.
Don’t confuse cost with value; Napa Valley Cabernet grapes sell for $5700/ton, that’s about $95/case or $8/bottle! Just for the grapes! At that price you’re paying for vineyard land prices near $400000/acre (and rising), property taxes, landscaping, a mansion and perhaps a Mercedes or two.
Lang Wines uses twist-cap closures rather than corks. Some consumers consider this to be an indication of a lower quality wine (see a comment). Not so! The twist-cap is a superior closure in every respect, with far fewer failures than cork. Cork was the best possible closure for many hundreds of years, but that time has passed; I’ve never tasted a bad twist-cap closure, but we all are familiar with the taste of failed cork, or a mouthful of dusty broken cork.
Regarding our 2008/2011 Sausalito Wines Zinfandels in this offer: Both wines are small production releases with labels by Sausalito Artist George Sumner.
The 2011 Sausalito Wine Zinfandel was assembled specifically for the 2013 America’s Cup Race in San Francisco Bay; without making excuses, the outcome and course of events of those preliminary races did not work out well for for vendors, including Lang Wines.
Please note: Our 2011 Sausalito Wines Zinfandel is a very fine wine; it was bottled directly from barrels, i.e., with no filtering or fining. Some wooters may recall that in the 1970s, many fine wine’s labels proudly stated; “…unfined & unfiltered.” That’s our 2011 Sausalito Wines Zinfandel. You will find a sediment deposit on the cork & perhaps on the neck & bottle bottom; its not a problem; decant if you prefer, but enjoy the wine;. It’s reealy good stuff!
Lang Wines has enjoyed this opportunity to once again post our wines on Wine Woot; it’s a venue that brings together a community of knowledgeable buyers and outreaching winemakers. Thanks to all!
Bob Lang