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Home > Travel California > California Attractions > Turley Wine Cellars
Turley Wine Cellars
California, the most populous state of the United States, located on the Pacific coast of North America is bordered by Oregon, Nevada, Arizona and Mexico. The four largest cities are Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose and San Francisco. California is also the home of and wine producing regions such as Santa Barbara and Northern California's Wine Country.
Turley Wine Cellars is a cozy brother-sister act, co-starring his sister, winemaker Helen Turley, proprietor of Marcassin, California's hottest new Chardonnay brand. Turley, a bearded 49-year-old emergency room physician, has long loved Zinfandels made from California's old vines. But his attention was directed elsewhere for years. He co-founded Frog's Leap Winery in 1981 and co-owned it until 1993. Turley parted with the venture, amicably, after deciding that production nearing 50,000 cases at that time had leaped too far. A surprising number of the old-vine vineyards that Turley is now focusing on are still producing in California, and many of them date to the late 1800s and early 1900s. They have survived because their owners have held onto the properties and planted new vineyards from scratch, which is easier than uprooting the old vines.
Turley believes that older vines offer more character and a better, naturally achieved balance than younger Zinfandel vines, which tend to be prodigious producers. In 1993, Turley Wine Cellars released three Zinfandels, two Petite Sirahs and a Sauvignon Blanc, The Hayne Vineyard Zinfandel 1993 is rich and dramatic. As popular as the Zinfandels are, the Petite Sirahs sells out faster. Both have dark, saturated, inky color, intense fruit flavors and the requisite tannins.
In 1994, two more Zinfandel bottlings are planned, and, so far, the barrel samples are promising. The Hone is big, ripe and plush, pushing 17 percent alcohol, but wonderfully balanced, with rich chocolate and berry flavors. The Sears Vineyard Zinfandel has a chewy texture and is loaded with peppery aromas, even showing a whiff of jalapeno pepper. The Whitney Vineyard wine is thick and concentrated, with intense berry, pepper and briarlike nuances. Aiba Vineyard produces a tight and tart wine that's dense but not overly tannic. Turley was amazed at the distinctive flavors his vineyards produced.
The goal of Turley Wine Cellars is to create wines of uncompromising quality with optimum flavor and aromatic components that reflect the unique characteristics of the vineyards from which they come.
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