The 2018 Zinfandel Vellutini Ranch is more delicately styled than the other Zinfandels from Martinelli this vintage. Medium ruby-purple, the nose opens with apricots and white peaches with accents of red berries, autumn leaves and cinnamon. It has a lighter, silkier and juicier frame with pretty, perfumed fruits and a long, uplifted finish.

Medium ruby colored, the 2017 Zinfandel Vellutini Ranch has an intense nose packed with fruit—peach jam, blueberry pie, warm red and black cherries and berries. Medium to full-bodied, it offers wonderfully spicy fruit in the mouth, framed by great juicy acidity and fine tannins with a long, warm fruit finish. 302 cases produced.

The 2016 Zinfandel Vellutini Ranch is medium garnet-purple colored and beautifully scented of crushed mulberries, cherry preserves and raspberry pie with touches of underbrush, baking spices and dusty soil. The palate is very big, rich and full-bodied with velvety tannins and plenty of freshness to lift the long, spicy finish. 279 cases produced.

More feminine, but richer than the 2013 version, the 2014 Zinfandel Vellutini Ranch (16.6% alcohol) exhibits deep black raspberry fruit, white chocolate, earth, underbrush and a touch of barrique. It is the second smallest cuvée in 2014, having produced only 182 cases. Drink it over the next 10-12 years. Both Jackass cuvées were produced in 2014.

Slightly more restrained, but by no means a light or wimpish wine is the 2013 Zinfandel Vellutini Ranch (16.2% alcohol). This wine exhibits deep, rich, briary berry fruit, some wood spice, roasted herbs and earth. It is full-bodied, heady, rich, and best drunk over the next 5-7 years.