Why We're Drinking ItFor the Zinfanatics: a lip-smacking Zin from Sonoma Valley, its world-renowned quality from the 93 point vintage. A wine when presented to our Sourcing Team generated incredible buzz for its classic style and poignant chronicle (the winery was recently sold and this beloved label is now disappearing), its (bittersweet) access to a sub $14 pleasure.A wine with exotic spicy notes that bursts with blackberry aromas, and a faint whisper of vanilla from being aged in oak barrels, its one intense berry-filled beauty, that’s only made more delectable with a well prepared steak and Portobello mushrooms. A sophisticated Zin from terroir synonymous with California fine wine, it’s sub $20 to raise a glass to; how to bid a Zinfull farewell to a marvelous producer.Here's the story: this land is downright impeccable, producing what our Panel called "some of the finest wines Sonoma Valley has ever seen." The original Carmenet vineyard (which Spectator explains beautifully right here), was built in the 1980s high on the Sonoma side of Mount Veeder. A part of Chalone wine group (whose wines include Acacia, Chalone, Echelon, Edna Valley, and Jade Mountain, to name a few), it's a high-altitude vineyard whose well-drained soils and easy-bake sunlight make for ripe, rich, and the juiciest of red fruits; hence, wines that, as our Panel says, "will knock your socks off so much, you'd be better off tasting barefoot."As if Moon Mountain wines couldn't get more alluring, the near-entirity of this collection was made by winemaker Randall Watkins, who, in addition to being what our Marketing Interns call "totally crush-worthy," makes wines our Panel can't get enough of. Most recently in the hands of Diageo Wines (one of the worldwide leaders of beverage production), the label is now changing course. The result - our Sourcing Team secured an allotment of the last of the brand, from their flagship Cabernet to their 'Right Bank Bordeaux' - style red blends.However we slice it, Moon Mountain is synonymous with greatness, both in terroir, and in heritage. Our Panel couldn't wait to uncork bottle after bottle (no complaints here!), and they couldn't be happier to offer the final bottles of Moon Mountain, as we know it, to Members alone. more
