After our Harvest Note on the Whites, I had planned to report on the Reds more promptly, but distant events and wine blending sessions intervened, with colleagues Fernando Franco and Daniele Tessaro assisting me in crafting Octagon 2014. (For a sneak peak at hypothetical blends, see below). Also last month, at the invitation of Wine Spectator, I participated in their annual New York Wine Experience, presenting Octagon 2010 with our estate founder’s son Francesco Zonin, among 250 leading wineries of the world. Next, I found myself in Richmond at the Governor’s Mansion, for the surprise of receiving the Monteith Trophy of the Atlantic Seaboard Wine Association, for longtime achievement in winemaking. I appreciated these honors very much, but now take even greater pleasure in assessing for you the reds of the 2015 vintage.
2015 is an Octagon year, and nothing that we could regret about voluminous rains in late September can detract from our deep satisfaction with the varietals which lie at the core of this vintage-defining wine. Yes, our expectations for the Cabernet Sauvignon were disappointed, but other varietals matured perfectly, before the weather broke. Our preferred vineyard blocks of Merlot, Cabernet Franc (shown here, in the 3-acre winery block), and Petit Verdot were saved in time, because our harvesting team under viticulturist Fernando Franco was ready to undertake a sudden, “full court press” harvest of some 20 uninterrupted hours, to bring in another distinguished vintage.
I take special pleasure in letting you know, this month Vineyard & Winery Management magazine has cited Fernando among the 20 most admired viticulturists in the United States, and with this harvest — his 18th for us — I can assure you, there isn’t a grape grower anywhere whom I’d rather have put in charge of it. 2015 gave us not only Octagon, but also a superior first crop from a new site of Cabernet Franc, and from Petit Verdot in an expanded existing site. Finally, we achieved outstandingly balanced development of fruit in 9,000 new vines of Nebbiolo. 2015’s fulfillment of so many hopes, in land and labor, casts a very warm glow on our future.
In the vineyard, we are rapidly finding ourselves surpassing previous standards, as experience allows us to match new growing sites to grape clones whose worth we have proved. Across the board in our red wine plantings (as well as in Sauvignon Blanc, Vermentino, Viognier and Fiano), these new growing sites really bring home the excitement of growing the right grape in the right place. In the future, the encouraging appraisals of our Nebbiolo vintages from critic Robert Whitley and from Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate should be even more sustainable than ever, given a suitable growing season. In our Cabernet Franc and Octagon, too, these diversifications of vineyard blocks promise even finer prospects.
This is my 25th vintage. Awards and kind words
have been generously offered on this occasion.
I can honestly say, however, 2015 has been a
vintage to gladden our higher hopes, for showing
what this estate can do. Please expect some beau-
tiful wines, and come when you can.
