Wildwood Vineyards

AVA

Sonoma Valley

Decade

1900s

County

Sonoma

Current Owner

Arthur Kunde & Sons, Inc.

Planted by

James Shaw

Location Notes

11011 Sonoma Hwy, Glen Ellen, CA 95442

Wineries

Kunde/Wildwood Vineyards & Winery, Martini & Prati, possibly Sebastiani

Characteristics

Although the vines have very low yield, the result is a jammy old vine Zin with a rich, earthy, intense dark fruit and chocolate flavor made more complex by aging in American and European oak for 15 months.

Description

The Century Vine Zinfandel vineyard, a vestige of Louis Kunde’s 1904 purchase, was planted in 1882 by James Shaw. It is 28 acres. Louis Kunde won a gold medal for this Zinfandel at the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco (another gold for a Burgundy, silver for Cab Sauv, Bronze for Riesling and honorable mention for Semillon). Louis shipped grapes to Chicago. Family lore has Louis once, unhappy with the price offered upon delivery, dumping the grapes along the train tracks instead of accepting the insulting price.

Facts

It was tested by UCDavis in the late 70’s/early 80’s. They were unable to identify the rootstock. Head pruned without trellis. Dry farmed

Submitted by

Keith Kunde

Certified