Ravenswood

No Wimpy Wines - Ravenswood

The Californian Joel Peterson has long wanted to create a wine that could compete with the best European wines. His dream became reality with his first "Dry Creek Zin" (born 1976). From a standing start, this wine reached first place at the famous San Francisco Tasting. A true Ravenswood cult followed, but until the late 1980s the winery remained a small boutique winery with the typical, mystical Raven Circle logo.

To this day, Ravenswood continues to set the standards for complex, balanced wines focused on grape variety and terroir expression - without any additives. Joel Peterson explains:' In the 1960s and 1970s, European wines, which I admired the most, were made using rather simple methods without much influence from technology. That was unusual even at that time. But I wondered why we couldn't use these methods of the Old World." Since then, Ravenswood has been working according to (for some) archaic wine-making methods.

Teldeschi Zinfandel

The typical Californian grape variety Zinfandel and Ravenswood are inseparable. This is mainly due to Joel Peterson's preference for wines from old vines, which yield only small but densely concentrated yields. Because the grapes vary from plot to plot, creating wines of very different character, Peterson created the famous Single Vineyard series with grandiose qualities such as the Teldeschi Zinfandel.

Wines from the vineyards of different vineyards in the same region, skillfully composed, created the series of County wines, while the Vintner's Blends, combining wines from their own vineyards with those of others, give rise to Ravenswood quality.