2018 Sidebar Cellars by David Ramey Old Vine Zinfandel Mokelumne River Lodi 750 ml

We’re tough Zinfandel critics, and we’ve been grinning from ear to ear ever since we secured a second allocation of David Ramey’s 2018 Sidebar. 

That’s because Ramey has had one of the most impressive careers in California winemaking, and with the 2018 Sidebar Zinfandel he’s applied his killer instincts—honed at iconic estates like Château Pétrus and Napa’s Dominus—to one of the most historic plots of the grape in the state. The result is a smash-hit deal from Lodi, an instant classic that captured scores of 92–94 points from Wine Advocate. 

Ramey started his Sidebar project to experiment with a wide array of lesser-known grapes from obscure vineyards, unhampered by commercial considerations—including volume. Production for a single Sidebar bottling is often miniscule—sometimes as little as 98 cases—but the resulting wines are priceless expressions of specific pockets of terroir.

Sidebar is an extraordinary introduction to the Mokelumne River AVA. This was the first area in the Lodi region planted with vines, some of which are now as old as 130 years. Now, they’ve transformed into gnarled, own-rooted, head-pruned bushes emerging from the sandy loam soil, looking like shriveled, ancient, witches’ hands clawing towards the sky. The tiny crop of grapes they produce is the essence of beauty, combining dense old-vine concentration with fine acids threaded in place by cool afternoon breezes drawn inland from San Francisco Bay.

Ramey has described his philosophy as applying 100 years of French tradition to the blessedness of California’s climate. For this spectacular Zin, you can add century-old vines to the mix—and it will upend your expectations for what California’s heritage grape can be.