Wine Spectator

Refined and graceful, this is top form Zinfandel, with vibrant cherry and raspberry flavors laced with sweet anise and pepper. The finish lingers long toward polished tannins. –Tim Fish

Refined and graceful, this is top form Zinfandel, with vibrant cherry and raspberry flavors laced with sweet anise and pepper. The finish lingers long toward polished tannins. –Tim Fish

Old-school briar notes meet elegant complexity in this red, which offers raspberry and cherry flavors that are accented by smoky sage and white pepper flavors that build tension toward refined tannins.

I’ve known Doug Nalle for the better part of 30 years, and even when I haven’t seen him in a while, he’s always the same ol’ Doug. I’d be disappointed if he wasn’t. Since his debut vintage in 1984, he’s gone his own way at Nalle Winery in Sonoma’s Dry Creek Valley. And as a boutique winery making about 2,000 cases a year of mostly Zinfandel, it hasn’t always been easy.

“Yummy” is a great word, but you rarely read it in a tasting note. I hesitate to use it. It seems, I don’t know, amateurish. Yet, in the case of the 2019 California Zinfandels, it’s perfect.

A mouthful of pure Zin-ful pleasure. Extremely youthful, exuberant, firm texture and bustin’ out all over with raspberry, vanilla and floral complexity. Long and almost elegant on the finish. Best yet from Doug Nalle.