2023 Zeppelin Winery Darwinian Five Petite Sirah

Tasting Notes

Perhaps more in loon with classic California Durif styles, lacking the enological flaws of course, and from a vineyard whose owner’s devotion to privacy—I won’t call him paranoid—rivals that of a few of the Panamint and Death Valley miners I know. In the event that I don’t make it all the way down the mountain from his vineyard with the harvest, he doesn’t want the attention from ag inspectors—or other authorities—that an accurate bill of lading found on my remains might bring. I have to say, though, that dealing with this character is well worth it—the berries are as small as those of any ripe red Vinifera variety grapes I’ve ever seen, and I have to be very careful how I manage the fermentation. (Blah, blah.)

Full, ‘complete’ flavor. . . . Imagine a purple and black and red grape pie, with an oak crust. (Mind your teeth.) I ‘explained’ the name and label upon releasing earlier vintages, so I’ll skip that. I will say, however, that this is one of the two best Petite Sirahs I have made, and that doesn’t mean #2.

I mean, that doesn’t mean this is #2. It’s tres bon merde!

Specs

• Vintage: 2023
• Varietal: Petite Sirah
• Appellation: Tuolumne County
• Vineyard: El Pendejo
• Alcohol: 15.7%
• Total Acidity: 6.2 g/L

2023 Zeppelin Winery Jetable Red Wine

Tasting Notes

Petite Sirah, whether Durif or Peloursin, and as a fallible rule, the ladder is darker though less extracted- was once and to some extent still is a variety not known for its amiability to the soft palated consumer. I cannot describe this wine as lush, nor will I apply it- the word as an adjective or noun to any of you, O drinker, except by accident. It is meant to be taken internally and self- dosed.

Aromas and flavors of blackberry, dried, black plum (Prun-no! not even. But the joke was inevitable if jetable) and Moab cherry (sans pit) with a whiff of clove to be served with clov-en hoofed creature meat. Medium to. . . lighter tannins? Relatively like a fourth cousin. (I could have tried to extract more structure from the petite grapes, but I would’ve needed more grapes–a quarter of a ton doesn’t make that much volume and thus lower heat of fermentation. And I was in Alta Amador anyway)

The name of the wine, Jetable, while susceptible to Franco-American meatball mispronunciation, (Accent on the first syllable, G like the second g in “garbage” – tah-bul) is also susceptible to misinterpretation in this case. Normally it means “disposable”. I just mean you can ‘toss it back’ down the hatch so to speak or you can cellar it in the hold. I’ve been given to understand that my wines don’t fall apart. My marine construction efforts however, are meant to. I’m on the fourth!

The label photo was taken at Lake Thomas A Edison this summer. That’s the stunning recessed peak (12,813’ back there) and my Disposable Sailboat 4, a, er hatchless trimaran. It’s tacky, but it tacks.

Specs

• Vintage: 2023
• Varietal: 58% Petite Sirah, 38% Syrah, 4% Tannat
• Appellation: Amador & San Luis Obispo Counties
• Vineyard: El Pendejo
• Alcohol: 15.9%
• Total Acidity: 6.6 g/L

What’s Included

2-bottles:

• 1x 2023 Zeppelin Winery Darwinian Five Petite Sirah
• 1x 2023 Zeppelin Winery Jetable Red Wine
  Case:
• 6x 2023 Zeppelin Winery Darwinian Five Petite Sirah
• 6x 2023 Zeppelin Winery Jetable Red Wine

Price Comparison

Not for sale on winery website, $816/case MSRP

About The Winery

• Winery: Zeppelin Winery
• Owners: Dave Andrews, Stillman Brown and Joe Kraman
• Founded: 2003
• Location: Cayucos, CA

In ancient times, long ago, hundreds of years before the dawn of history, the consulting winemaker, assistant cellar sock monkey, and rock band mis-manager Stillman Brown of Red Zeppelin infamy, and his footloose and still insufficiently silent mouthpiece and de factoid attorney GD Lewis of Jory Winery, became Zeppelin Winery, and even since then have wines that at least one of them believes are at least more than good enough to have pretty much anything on the label, excepting hallucinogenic drugs. Over the last decade, most of the wines have been from grapes grown by one of our crazier clients, in two concocted sub-appellations of west Paso Robles that split the hidden Hill of Graceland vineyard. He drives the tractor and poormouths himself, I do everything else… Sales are almost exclusively to our email list, though we make irregular appearances on Casemates.com.

Available States

AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KY, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NJ, NM, NY, NC, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY

Estimated Delivery

Monday, Dec 2 - Tuesday, Dec 3

Zeppelin Winery Mixed Reds
2 bottles for $69.99 $35/bottle + $4/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $389.99 $32.50/bottle + $1/bottle shipping

2023 Zeppelin Winery Darwinian Five
2023 Zeppelin Winery Jetable

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Let’s see, of the three ‘owners’ of Zeppelin Winery listed above, two I fired over a decade ago. The third, aka the second, to answer a question posed above, with votes tallied - votes, indeed - has actually been on a Zeppelin airship, in Mountain View, CA, also over a decade ago. It was airborne, several feet or so.
I am one of the three people pictured in the photo at the top of the linked, ZeppelinWinery.com website: two are amongst the living, the third was one of the three most innertaining Elvis ‘impersonators’ ever to orbi- er, walk the face of the Earth. One of the other two - Elvi, not people in the picture - is also no longer on the face of the Earth. The third just refreshed the ZeppelinWinery website.