Medium ruby-purple, the 2019 Zinfandel Salvador Vineyard is scented of fresh red and black berries with notes of soil, dried flowers and licorice. The medium-bodied palate is smooth and juicy, with a bright fruit character that serves to lift the wine, and it finishes long and perfumed. 640 cases were made.

Deep ruby-purple in color, the 2018 Zinfandel Salvador Vineyard opens with a very pretty rose petal perfume, with accents of tea leaves, dusty earth, potpourri and hints of apricot over a core of crushed blackberry fruit. The medium to full-bodied palate offers a firm but ripe tannic frame to support the perfumed, juicy fruits, and it finishes long.

The 2017 Zinfandel Salvador Vineyard comes from own-rooted vines planted in 1896 on pure sand. Medium to deep ruby-purple in color, it has a singular nose of exotic spices, opening to candied peach and dried blueberries over a core of warm black and blue fruit preserves. Medium to full-bodied, it has wonderfully concentrated flavor layers in the mouth, with firm, grainy tannins and very juicy acidity, finishing very long, layered and spicy. 600 cases produced.

From a site that may soon be lost to housing development, the 2016 Zinfandel Salvador Vineyard is a lovely wine, bursting with scents of ripe cherries, cassis, plums and a subtle framing of oak. Full-bodied, deep and concentrated on the palate, it displays considerable density and depth, with an ample core of sweet, juicy fruit, framed by satiny tannins.

From another Contra Costa site, the 2014 Zinfandel Salvador Vineyard (15.6% alcohol) has dark berry fruit, with earth, spice and floral notes. It is full-bodied and seems completely different than other Contra Costa Zinfandels. This wine has a spectacular finish, and certainly struck me as one of the most compelling of the Contra Costa offerings, which are all impressive. Drink it over the next 7-8 years. The quintessential old vine Zinfandel, these vines date from 1896.