2019 Pinot Noir Zio Tony Ranch
Appellation
Russian River
Wine Specs
Vintage
2019
Varietal
Pinot Noir
Appellation
Russian River
Vineyard Designation
Zio Tony Ranch
Alcohol %
15.4
Wine Profile
Vineyard Notes
The Zio Tony Ranch is named after Lee Sr.’s uncle Tony who was the first in the
Bondi family to be born on American soil. Zio Tony, Zio meaning 'uncle' in Italian
and pronounced 'tseo', was a very charismatic man with a big booming voice
whom loved a good time. When Zio Tony passed away in 1971 his nephew, Lee
Martinelli, Sr., took over management of the estate. The love of his family's
heritage land was too great for Lee to sell the property and in one short season he
went from High School teacher to Apple Farmer. Eventually this apple orchard
was converted to vineyards, as the market for apples grew unbearably soft. The
vines are planted on rolling hills made up of Gold Ridge soil, with Clones consisting
of 95, 76, and 548.
Winemaker Notes
The 2019 season was overall very cool with record rainfall for Sonoma County in
February. The vines however were not affected by this because they were still
dormant at the time. Similar to the 2018 season, spring and summer were
moderate in temperature and ripening developed gradually and under minimal
stress. This year was in fact so similar to 2018 that we began harvest the same
day, on September 10th. Unfortunately another wildfire hit the region at the end of
October, but luckily none of our vineyards were affected. The winery and many
employees were evacuated, but we were able to keep an eye on the new vintage
with a skeleton crew. The quality was not impacted and we are very excited at the
concentration of flavors in this vintage.
