2016 Opolo Forte Zinfandel

About 2016 Opolo Forte Zinfandel:

Introducing the 2016 Opolo Forte Zinfandel, a distinguished wine that boasts a rich, dark hue and a pristine clarity.

Tasting Notes:

2016 Opolo Forte Zinfandel is a dark, clean wine breathing fresh eucalyptus, earth, and cedar. Muddiness meets the palate, along with wild blue and black berries scavenged from the native overgrown thorn filled bushes of central California. Plum, tea leaf, and white pepper linger on the tongue and in no rush lead to a surprisingly acidic finish complimented with powderly Nilla Wafer tannins.

Growing Notes:

Opolo’s vineyard team carefully monitors each lot of grapes throughout the season in order to produce the highest quality fruit possible. From taking leaf, petiole, and soil samples, to monitoring water uptake in the vines, all aspects of viticulture is carefully notated and examined with the intent of producing only high quality fruit for our winery. The entire Opolo production team works together every year to provide the best quality product possible.

The grapes for this wine are sourced from Opolo’s estate vineyards in Paso Robles. Cooling breezes from the nearby Pacific Ocean contribute foggy mornings and lower summer temperatures, which produces exceptional, expressive fruit.

Winemaking Notes:

The grapes are handpicked at night to ensure that the fruit arrives at the winery very cold. The grapes are delicately destemmed and crushed ever so slightly into both closed top stainless steel fermentation vessels as well as small open top fermenters. After 20 days of fermentation the wine is gently pressed, settled and racked to barrel for 15 + months

About The Winery:

Opolo Vineyards has a long established reputation of growing and producing award winning wines in Paso Robles, California. With nearly 300 acres of vines on the east and west side of Paso Robles, Opolo Vineyards is privy to a wide range in climate, soil and growing potential—allowing extensive range of varietals to flourish. This variety combined with the passion behind the brand has made Opolo a favorite of wine enthusiasts everywhere.

They say good fences make good neighbors, but it was a love of wine and winemaking that was the connection between Opolo proprietors Rick Quinn and Dave Nichols.

Their two families have lived side-by-side in Camarillo since 1996. As Nichols remembers, “I knew Rick to say hello to, but that was about it. Then one day, he said to me, ‘Hey Dave, I just planted 10,000 grapevines!’” And so began the evolution of Opolo, one of Paso Robles’ premier labels. Quinn and Nichols have been neighbors in two counties since 1997 when Nichols bought vineyard property adjoining Quinn’s. Together they now own and farm nearly 300 acres of vines on the east and westside of Paso Robles.

Opolo’s estate vineyards were established in 1995, with sites on both the west and east side of Paso Robles. The topographically diverse, coastal landscape of the westside vineyards provides for an intense and unique flavor profile. The heat and dryness of the east side vineyard make it an ideal microclimate for growing Bordeaux varietals. Home to a wide range of varietals, the estate vineyards help allow the team at Opolo to create many unique single varietals as well as award winning blends.