Description

Kevin Kinsella founded Kinsella Estates in Sonoma’s Dry Creek Valley in 2007, having established himself as a diverse and successful business entrepreneur. Kevin bought a 12-acre vineyard in the foothills of the western edge of Dry Creek Valley and hired legendary winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown to lead his project.

The vineyard is elevated 500 feet above the Russian River and the valley provides a warm climate that seldom sees a winter frost, some hills even grow citrus trees. The valley runs east-west and is planted with 12 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon vines on steep eastern hillsides made of loamy, metamorphic soil.

Kinsella Estates produces 2,000 cases annually and has no plans to expand outside of what the vineyard has to offer, as Kinsella prefers to remain a single estate production.

The estate vineyard has three blocks. The Heirloom Vineyard is a steep sloping 17-year-old parcel on two acres wedged between an arroyo and a knoll of Spanish oaks. The Jersey Boys Vineyard is six acres and Spencer Vineyard is four acres. In 2008, winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown removed the vines from The Jersey Boys and Spencer vineyard and replanted with four handpicked clones of Cabernet Sauvignon. In addition, two thirds of an acre were planted to Wente clone Zinfandel and eight rows to Petit Verdot.

Kinsella Estate wines are produced from organically grown grapes and showcase the “beautiful expressions of the vineyards blocks from which they are made.”

A complex mix of tart blackberries, baked plums, warm earth, fresh black cherries, anise, a slight note of red tootsie roll pop. On the palate, the wine is plush with great depth which is a testament to the zinfandel clone (Wente) and vineyard age (10 years in the 2017 growing season). This wine has an expansive roundness that seems to push outward with power. The complexity of flavors mimics the nose, with a savory spicy finish with grippy tannins that makes this a wonderful expression of Dry Creek Zinfandel.