Maple Creek Winery

It seems there’s always pockets of killer wine grapes in Mendocino that come back on the market after being locked up by some winery, and Largo Ridge vineyard is a good example. Crush was all but over for Maple Creek in 2005 when Randy Ruddick drove in with five tons of very ripe, dry-farmed Zinfandel. He had picked the fruit at nearly 26 brix from Largo Ridge, near Russian River in the Ukiah Valley. Whoever had been buying it didn’t want it anymore, and Tom Rodrigues at Maple Creek was willing to crank the winery back up to take it in. He’s glad he did, and you can be too.

The aroma set on this wine is a big, seamless gust of oak-framed Zinfandel, rich and spicy and instantly appealing. In your mouth it’s everything a Zin should be: outgoing, fruit-forward, and lip-smacking. Because this is a $30 Zinfandel, you also get minty oak layers, a range of cherry and plum notes dancing around the blackberry pie flavors, and, after savoring the raw silk texture, an aftertaste that goes on forever. Alcohol’s up there, at 15.4 percent , but the wine’s in balance all through.

Reviewed August 9, 2007 by Thom Elkjer.