Charles Krug Zinfandel Port, Napa Valley · Bottled December 2001

Eleven bottles available. Four vintages in one bottle.

The date on this listing is a bottling date, not a vintage

Charles Krug makes its Zinfandel port by the solera method, the way sherry and madeira are made: fractional blending, where each release draws from a running stock of older wine that is topped up rather than emptied. This bottling blends four vintages and went into bottle in December 2001. There is no 2001 harvest behind it, and any 2001 Napa vintage commentary you read elsewhere does not apply.

What it is

A fortified dessert wine made from Napa Zinfandel, at around 18%. Zinfandel makes a very good port-style wine, better than its reputation suggests: the grape gets ripe enough to carry the spirit and keeps enough acidity to stop the whole thing turning to syrup. Expect berry preserve, toffee, dried fig and spice from the wood, over a chewy but supple finish. Charles Krug still makes the wine today, now labelled simply as a Zinfandel dessert wine.

There is no published critic score for this bottling, or for any release of it. Note also that Wine Enthusiast reviewed a 2001 Charles Krug dry table Zinfandel, which is a different wine entirely; if you find a score online it is probably that one.

The estate, and the family argument behind it

Charles Krug, a Prussian immigrant, founded the winery in 1861 and it is the oldest in Napa Valley. In 1943 Cesare and Rosa Mondavi bought the dormant property for seventy-five thousand dollars, at their son Robert's urging.

What happened next shaped California wine. Robert pushed to spend more and aim higher; his brother Peter did not agree. In 1965 the argument turned into a physical fight, Robert left, and in 1966 he founded the Robert Mondavi Winery. A lawsuit followed in 1972 and went to trial in 1976; their mother Rosa died during the proceedings. The settlement left Peter with Charles Krug and Robert with most of the family's Oakville vineyards, the land that became the foundation of his own estate. Charles Krug has stayed in Peter Mondavi's family ever since, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

The details

• Producer: Charles Krug, Peter Mondavi Family, St. Helena
• Appellation: Napa Valley, California
• Style: fortified Zinfandel dessert wine, solera method
• Bottled: December 2001, from four vintages
• Alcohol: around 18%
• Drinking window: open. A fortified wine at this strength is stable and keeps for years, and an opened bottle will hold for weeks.

Serving and pairing

Serve at 60 to 64°F in a small glass. Dark chocolate, blue cheese, walnuts, or on its own after dinner. Recork it and it will still be good a month later, which is more than you can say for most of what is on this site.

Eleven bottles, then it comes off the site. Ships from our Florida cellar.