Peter Franus Zinfandel, Napa Valley 2014

Following his entry into the wine industry as a student at Fresno State's viticulture and enology progrma in 1978 Peter Franus has had the privilege of working with some of the finest vineyards and growers in Napa Valley. The first of his own wines appearing in 1987 from which date he's gone from strenght to strength. Underlineing all his work is the goal is to preserve and express the unique character of each site from which he takes fruit. Philosophically and stylistically he relies on intuition, tradition and a minimalist approach to winemaking. He aims to create wines that offer richness, harmony, complexity and ultimately wines that can elicit the comment, 'delicious'.

Together with his wife Deanne they own some prime vineyard sites in Carneros and Napa. Their operation is quite small scale and some wines are produced in limited quantities. In contrast to many Californian wineries theirs is quite 'garagiste' in style without any slick cellar door or visitor centre. Whilst overall they fly somewhat under the radar and the success they've achieved has been largely through word of mouth their wines are first rate and well worth seeking out.