2018 HENDRY BLOCKS 7 & 22 NAPA VALLEY ZINFANDEL “George Hendry planted Block 7 in 1975. At the time, he was selling grapes from his family’s ranch at the base of Mt. Veeder, just west of the city of Napa. He planted Block 22 in 1995, a few years after he began to make his own wine. His nephew Mike manages the vines today, blending Blocks 7 & 22, both clone 2 zinfandel, and aging it in French oak barrels (one third of them new). If you love Napa Valley zinfandel as I do, you owe it to yourself to get this wine if just for the smell alone. It starts with tight floral clarity, then expands toward zinfandel’s classic generosity, touching every sense receptor with its purity of fruit. Immediately fresh and refreshing, this begins to sit in its oak as it develops over several days, suggesting that you drink it either now or in ten years when it will have completely digested that oak and show the vineyard through a mature lens.” 94 Points