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Ravenswood Winery

NO WIMPY WINES!
For as long as anybody cares to remember, this has been the credo (calling card? Battle cry? Team yell? Coat of arms?) of Ravenswood Winery in Sonoma, California. Expressing our commitment to full-flavored varietal wine — notably Zinfandel — it sums up our mission to capture everything a vineyard has to offer, and to promote it in a way that won't put people to sleep. Wine is, after all, one of the most fascinating and fun things in life, which is why Ravenswood winemaker Joel Peterson believes that it belongs on the table — not on a pedestal or in an ivory tower.

Winemaker Joel Peterson explains:
"When I was starting my own winery and tasting a lot of wine in the 1960s and 70s, the European wines I admired were made in a relatively primitive way, without much technological interference.

Even then this was unusual, but I didn't see why we couldn't employ Old World methods if we were vigilant. If it ain't broke, it seemed to me that trying to 'fix' a time-honored tradition with technology was more like food processing than winemaking. "As a result, at Ravenswood we employ relatively archaic winemaking techniques. Instead of sterilizing our juice with sulfur and adding a commercial yeast culture, we use native vineyard yeasts that have a broader range of flavors and aromas.

We ferment in small, open-topped tanks and allow the temperature of the juice to get very warm to extract all the color and flavor possible. We leave the wine in contact with its skins for weeks, not days, after which it's aged in small French oak barrels whose flavors are consistent with our wines, particularly Zinfandel.