We’ve previously covered the fascinating story of mutation and clonal variation, especially as it relates to Zinfandel, Primitivo and Tribidrag, but this wine provides a little twist on that story, with an Italian-American returning to Italy after solidifying his finances to retrieve not just his wife but “Italian Zinfandel”, AKA Primitiovo. Planting these vines—however you want to think of them—more than 130 years ago in Lodi, means that they are slightly different from the Tribidrag grapes that were first marketed in the American Northeast as Zinfandel in the 1820s and were then brought to and found success in California in the the 1850s during the Gold Rush. Lance Randolph is now the 5th generation of the Peirano family to steward this ancient, own-rooted Zinfandel vineyard that gives miniscule, economically ill-advised quantities, and yet the prices remain humble from a man whose avowed mission is to produce the greatest wine Lodi has ever made. The hand-picked grapes are aged in both American and French Oak with a very small percentage of them being new. Blackberry and bing cherry, fig, including some dried, spice and vanilla, graham cracker, dark chocolate and sweet tobacco–intense aromas and flavors with moderate tannins that excite the whole mouth. This is a burger and barbecue wine.