2016 Martinelli Zinfandel Jackass Hill Vineyard
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Tasting notes
The 2016 Zinfandel Jackass Hill is medium garnet-purple colored with a totally beguiling and sexy nose of potpourri, raspberry preserves, kirsch, cinnamon toast, nutmeg and sandalwood over a fruitcake and mincemeat pie core with a waft of milk chocolate. The palate is big alright, very rich and very full-bodied, sporting 16.7% alcohol, but forget all that—it totally seduces you in the mouth with soft, sultry tannins and plenty of freshness giving poise to all the rich, spicy, multilayered fruit, finishing epically long and wonderfully perfumed. Wow. Only 57 cases produced.
Critic scores
Average Score
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
The 2016 Zinfandel Jackass Hill is powerful, deep and implosive, with tremendous density and tons of energy. Reserved and shy today, the 2016 needs time to unwind, but it offers considerable potential. Bright red cherry, plum, cedar, tobacco, leather and mint all flesh out in the glass, but it is the wine's silkiness and persistence that stand out most. The Jackass Hill is a complete, totally alluring wine. Martinelli's most iconic wine emerges from vines planted in 1899 by Giuseppe and Luisa Martinelli in what remains the steepest vineyard in Sonoma.
About the producer
Martinelli is a Sonoma benchmark for vineyard-designate bottlings—wines built to highlight how strongly a single site can shape Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Syrah, and Zinfandel. Across the range, the focus stays consistent: small-production bottlings that feel distinctly tied to where they’re grown.