2018 Wilson Foreigner Zinfandel Del Barba Vineyard Contra Costa County 750 ml

Age-worthy ancient-vine Zins are some of the most distinguished and delicious wines grown in California, and when we find a great one, we’re happy to pay $35 or $40 per bottle.

So when we can deliver a blockbuster bottle to our members for barely half that, we grab all we can—which is why we grabbed as much as we could of the 2018 Wilson Foreigner Del Barba Vineyard Zinfandel. Every single bottle outside of the winery is bound for Wine Access… but considering the minuscule 230-case production, our share isn’t a big one. 

A Zin grown on one of the most historic vineyards in California and crafted by a worldly duo anchored by a Napa native, Wilson Foreigner pushes the quality and character envelope far beyond what you think is possible for the price. One sip of the spicy, brambly, full-bodied red shows why California’s greatest winemakers are bent on getting a piece of the state’s greatest century-old sites—ones just like Del Barba. 

Fortunately for Wine Access members, David Wilson and Chris Alheit have already staked their claim, and have made a red that proves Zinfandel to be one of the best values in California. 

It makes sense that David Wilson would gravitate toward the historic Del Barba Vineyard—he grew up on his family’s famed Rancho Chimiles site (where he and his wife Christine now live with their family). It’s one of the most famous plots of vineyard land in Napa Valley, and set the tone for the kind of historic sites he and South African winemaker Chris Alheit—the “foreigner,” whom he met working harvest in Chris’s home country—would seek out. 

They found their Zinfandel source south of Napa at the Del Barba Vineyard, which is located in Contra Costa County, where some of the most historic vineyards in California have been producing top-quality red grapes for more than a century. 

The fourth generation of the Del Barba family tends to the own-rooted, head-trained, 120-year-old vineyard, which has drawn winemakers like Aaron Pott and Bruce Neyers. A former seabed heavy in sandy soils, the temperatures and scarce irrigation at Del Barba demand a lot from the gnarled vines—but all that environmental stress works wonders on the Zinfandel grapes. 

Summer days that regularly crack triple digits are followed by cool evenings that awaken and sustain a lively acidity and a resiliency that manifests in the glass as bramble, black fruit, and a fascinating minerality. There’s rich, ripe fruit up front, tons of herby aromatic complexity, and a long finish showing tobacco and winter spice. 

This is a vibrant ruby masterpiece: a classic Zinfandel from a sought-after site, and one sip will show you why we grabbed as much as we could!