This is exactly why people spend an inordinate amount of time searching for vineyard space in cooler regions, with enough daily sunlight to get fruit to ripeness.  Brown Estate Winery opened in the mid 80’s in the Chiles Valley (to this day, not exactly the best known spot in Napa Valley right?) and has focused much of the 5,000 case production on Zinfandel. That’s an unusual choice for a cooler climate region, but then again they just happened to be about 20 years ahead of the times.  The impressive thing is that the critical acclaim for the winery has always been strong as well, with most of the wines made on site scoring in the low to mid 90 point range.  For a cooler climate, that’s an impressive feat.  If you’re someone looking for a unique look into Zinfandel, then Brown River Estate is a great place to start.

Full Discalimer: We’ve used some of these wines in our gourmet gift basket in the past & they were incredibly well received.