Suisun Valley Wine

Item Description

Support your local wineries!!! Suisun Valley is one of the oldest California appellations. UCDavis says better soil and weather than Napa. That means the wines are good.

Suisun Valley Appellation

Wooden Valley Winery

Primitivo - 2004 - Two Bottles

The grapes for the 2004 Primitivo were harvested from a select block in northern Suisun Valley where growing conditions are ideal for this particular variety. The grapes were harvested on September 19, 2004 at 28.9° brix and aged in French and American Oak for 476 days prior to bottling.

419 cases produced

The Primitivo vine is associated almost exclusively with the southern Italian region of Apulia. Research to determine its origin, and possible relationship to Zinfandel, began in the late 1960s, when plant pathologist Austin Goheen noticed a strong resemblance between the two vines while travelling in Apulia. He took Primitivo cuttings back to his laboratory at the University of California at Davis, but was never able to conclusively determine that Primitivo and Zinfandel were identical.

It was not until the 1990s that Carole Meredith, a plant geneticist and professor of viticulture and enology at Davis, established with considerable further research and DNA fingerprinting, that the two are genetically the same but clones of the same variety and not identical. Primitivo had only been planted in Apulia since the mid-1700s at the earliest, and further inquiry revealed that neither clone is indigenous to Italy, but to Croatia. An original ancestor called the Crljenak, was found to be identical to Zinfandel. Zinfandel therefore appears to predate Primitivo.

This hot climate vine bears medium-sized, five-lobed pentagonal leaves which are deep green, deeply notched and downy on the underside. The semi-compact bunches are of medium size, conical-cylindrical in shape and usually winged, with medium sized, spherical, thick skinned dusky blue berries of particular juicy sweetness. The wine they produce is rustic, deeply-colored, high in alcohol and highly extracted, with jammy, brambly black fruit flavors offset by aromas of rose petals and chocolate.

DONATED BY SOLANO COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION DIRECTOR, RON LANZA. Thanks, Ron.

Item Special Note

Must be 21 years of age or older to bid.

Auction Winner will need to pick up the wine at the Wooden Valley Winery Tasting room. Please call in advance. There you will enjoy free samples of Wooden Valley varietals and blends, served at the bar built from the giant redwood casks that once were used in the winery to ferment the harvest.

When you plan to come, bring a lunch and enjoy your purchase on the winery picnic grounds. They also sell some tasty goodies to round out your meal and complement your wine selection. Browse the gifts available and maybe take home a Wooden Valley souvenir.

For three generations the Lanza family has worked the vineyards of Wooden Valley Winery. Today, it is still a family operation, with Mario's son Richard and his four sons working together to produce award-winning estate bottled wines.

Nestled among the vineyards and rolling hills of Suisun Valley, the winery is a few miles off Interstate 80 and located only two miles from the Napa county line.

Wooden Valley Winery
4756 Suisun Valley Road
Suisun Valley, CA 94534

707 864-0730

www.woodenvalley.com email: info@woodenvalley.com