Zinfandel has been part of the Rombauer story since the very beginning and remains one of the wines the family is best known for. Fruit is drawn from across California, which gives the blend more scope than a single district would allow, and the style is unapologetically generous.
Expect a wine full of ripe brambly fruit: blackberry, raspberry jam and black cherry, with sweet baking spice, black pepper, vanilla and a note of dark chocolate. The palate is round and plush with soft tannins and a warm, spicy finish. It is the sort of red that works as easily on its own as it does at the table.
Koerner and Joan Rombauer founded the winery in 1980, eight years after moving the family to Napa Valley, starting out with bought in fruit and a garage before building their own cellar in the St Helena hills in 1982. Koerner's great aunt Irma Rombauer wrote The Joy of Cooking, and his German forebears grew wine in the Rheingau. Try this with barbecue, ribs, burgers, pizza or a sharp cheddar.
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