2019 Once & Future Zinfandel Oakley Road Vineyard Contra Costa County 750 ml

The celebrated Ravenswood proprietor and winemaker put Zinfandel on the map and in the glasses of wine lovers around the world—and for that, he has earned a spot in the pantheon of California pioneers. Now, four decades after founding his history-making label, he’s created the winery he always intended Ravenswood to be: one tightly focused on crafting impeccable red wine from California’s one-of-a-kind vineyards.

That winery is called Once & Future, and the 2019 Once & Future Zinfandel Oakley Road Vineyard Contra Costa County shows that Peterson’s touch is as magical as ever.

This is a Zinfandel that—like the top ones from Biale, Turley, Ridge, and Vineyard 29—belongs with California’s best bottles, bar none. Grown on 120-year-old vines in the sandy soils of Contra Costa County’s Oakley Road vineyard, it’s vivid, graceful, complex, and as pedigreed—not to mention as flat-out delicious—as Zinfandel gets. 

Like Matt Cline’s ancient-vine treasures, Peterson’s Oakley Road Zin transports us to Contra Costa County, the unglamorous but incomparable old-vine haven east of San Francisco. The site boasts 120-year-old, own-rooted, dry-farmed Zinfandel vines that sink deep into the sand that has protected them from phylloxera for all those years. 

Grapes tend to ripen early in Oakley Road not because it’s hot—summer temps hover around 74 degrees—but because the sands make the vineyard warm up earlier, prodding the vines to awaken and start producing. The combination of cooling winds off the Carquinez Strait and reflected sun off the sand makes for a super-steady growing season, which wraps up in early September. 

Zinfandel doesn’t get prouder than this hard-to-find bottle. It belongs in the cellar not only of Zin fans, but of any and every lover of California wine.