If you listened to last week’s episode, you heard me dispel some myths around Zinfandel and sing this grape’s praises! This week you’re coming along to a Zinfandel-centric tasting at the beautiful Tres Sabores Winery in St Helena, CA. 

Tres Sabores is a boutique organic winery owned by winemaker, Julie Johnson and they are celebrating their 25th year making gorgeous wines in the Napa Valley.

Join my dear friends Anne, Joan, Ericka and I, as our wine educator, Jim Olmos, shares Zinfandel in 4 different and exciting wines. You’ll hear their reactions and the story of this special winery and why it drew me in the very first time I visited over 15 years ago. 

Listen to our impressions of:

• Rosé of Zinfandel (is it White Zinfandel?)
• 2022 Zinfandel
• A special Library vintage of Zin (hint- it blew us away...)
• My favorite Zin driven blend "Porque No?"

You can order these beautiful wines or plan your tasting visit to Tres Sabores Here. 

When in St Helena, be sure to visit one of my favorites, Farmstead at Long Meadow Ranch and bring your Tres Sabores Zinfindel for some fantastic pairings! 

Did you know I make my own wine here in Sonoma County? My 2021 Sollevato Sangiovese is available to be shipped to most US States. Use the code PODLISTENER for 10% off. It's a delicious, medium bodied, aromatic red wine that is perfect with pizza, pasta and your charcuterie spread!

You NEED some delicious California Olive Oil from our awesome sponsor American Olive Farmer. Use code SipWithNikki for $10 off your order!

If you'd like to Support the Podcast, you can buy me a glass of wine and get a shoutout on a future episode.

Please leave a RATING or a REVIEW (on your podcast listening platform), or thumbs up and subscribe (on YouTube!)

Questions? Comments? Guest requests? nikki@sipwithnikki.com

And I came here for the first time and tasted and I was just blown away that something so small and magical existed because every other place that I worked

at had been this big and industrial winery with all this massive equipment and to see something so humble and so small like this, it really was a breath of fresh air.

Hi,

and welcome to sip with Nikki.

I'm your host, Nikki Lamberti coming to you from Sonoma County, California.

And if you're listening to this on the day it released, which is Monday, December.

16th.

It is the last day for shipping my beautiful Solovato Sangiovese across the country in time for the holidays.

Visit solovatowines.

com and make sure you use the discount code PODLISTENER and I'll give you 10 percent off your purchase of this beautiful 2021 Sangiovese.

So if you listened to last week's episode, we dove into all things Zinfandel.

If you haven't listened, I hope that you do because this week we're building upon some of the foundation that I gave you about this misunderstood and I think underappreciated grape of Zinfandel and we're doing that in a live tasting that I've recorded.

So in previous episodes, you have probably heard me talk about Trisoboros winery, which is in St.

Helena.

In the Napa Valley, that's where Michael and I make our wine as a custom crush.

We use space there.

And Julie Johnson, who is the owner and the wine maker, is a mentor of mine.

Her husband, John Engel Serger, or John Eino, as we call him, is a wonderful wine maker.

As is Miguel Garcia, their assistant wine maker.

Tris re translates into the three tastes or the three flavors.

And it was founded in 1999 by Julie, and one of the things that's very unique about this property is that they are a certified organic grower of not only Zinfandel, but Cabernet Sauvignon, But she also grows pomegranates, Meyer lemons, olives, they make olive oil, they have animals there.

It's just a secret special place that I'm partially excited to share with you.

And partially want to keep to myself because it's such a special and magical place to visit.

Tris Aboris Winery is one of the first wineries I visited with my mom on the very first trip out here and I've been in their wine club for years and years.

as well as now making my wine there, but one of the things that drew me to them right away, besides just being very special people and a very small, organic boutique winery, is they specialize in Zinfandel.

And I had some dear friends of mine in town visiting last weekend.

I had English Anne, from Orlando.

You'll hear her fantastic accent, as well as my good friends, Joan and Erica from Nashville.

And we were doing some wine tasting.

And of course, we went to Triss Aboyes.

Jim Ulmos, shout out to Jim, making his podcast debut.

He was our wonderful wine educator.

And I recorded a part of our tasting, especially the parts that focused on, You guessed it, Zinfandel.

And the cool thing about this tasting is that we experienced this grape in four different expressions.

What does that mean?

I'll give you a hint.

In the pink expression, in the red expression, in the aged expression, and also as a blend.

So I thought it would be fun to record as we tasted and hear some of the reactions, hear Jim's wonderful storytelling and descriptions of the wines.

And I wanted to absolutely highlight this.

fantastic and very special winery that has been a really integral part of my wine journey.

Some of the beautiful sounds of Tres Sabores that you'll hear our mics captured as we were sitting by this beautiful fountain waterfall in the background, if you're wondering what that is.

And just setting the scene a little bit, we were sitting at a round table, literally overlooking the vineyard and their property on a beautiful 60 degree sunny afternoon.

At one point, you can hear the Napa Valley wine train chugging by, not too far in the distance.

And if you really listen, you'll hear the bleeding of sheep and goats, chickens and guinea hens, all of which they raised there on the property.

You'll hear us talk about the famous golden retrievers, and it's not unusual to be tasting with a dog sitting at your feet.

So if you're dog lovers, that is also part of the special charm of this place.

And I hope that you get to visit sometime soon.

So here we go with Zinfandel Four Ways.

All right, so this is the

Ingrid and Julia.

I love this one.

I always think that roses are going to be sweet.

Why does your voice go low when you say sweet?

Because you're saying it with judgment.

Sweet.

Yes.

So I've conveyed that I clearly don't like sweet.

Yes, you did.

In the intonation of your

poem.

No, you're right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Back in the day, you would call this white Zinfandel.

This

is rosé from the Zinfandel grape.

Which technically, because rosé is sexier, and gets away from the white Zinfandel stigma of sweet pink wine, which this is not.

But it's made from the red Zinfandel

grape.

What beautiful weather we got today.

It's probably high 60s, right?

I do love how he said, This is great because the acidity gets you excited for food.

Read that.

I don't need

to be any more excited than I already am for food.

Come to Jim.

You ready?

Yeah, come

on.

We're alive.

You're alive.

Cool.

Yay, you're on the podcast.

Come on in.

Yay, I made it.

Okay, since the girls have not, you guys have not met him before, right?

Right.

Give me your story.

How long have you been here?

How did you wind up here?

All the good stuff.

I grew up in San Lina, so just right up the road.

Born and raised.

My family has been here for quite some time, so my grandparents first moved out here back in the early 1950s for Mexico.

So this is it.

During the Braceros program, both my grandparents came from a long line of farmers.

Worked at ag in Mexico and just loved it.

It's been great.

My grandmother actually seized the opportunity to come out here first and foremost was actually in Chicago.

Went from Chicago, moved out here to Napa.

And then my grandfather followed.

And the kids just trickled in.

So I have five aunts and five uncles, so a really big family.

And they all, all here, all got involved in, in wine and, or in the wine industry.

And growing up out here, I never really saw myself in wine.

And it wasn't until a little bit later on that I decided that I wanted to.

pursue wine and pinpointed the moment when I graduated from high school back in 2015.

I took some time off from everything and actually lived in Mexico for about a year and a half.

And I remember after spending over a year in Mexico that started getting a little homesick and my grandparents house was open and available.

In my uncle's head, all this nap of wine just hanging out in the house,

he says, with a huge smile that comes across his face when he says it.

So I found all this wine and I remember just feeling like I really missed home and I've been away for so long and I opened up a bottle and I drank and that was the first moment where I was like, wow, this reminds me of home.

This tastes like home and I wanted to come back and get involved and I did everything that I possibly could.

I did my first harvest and at our Casa.

Yeah.

Back in 20 I

think you guys have been to Artesa, yeah.

2017 was my first harvest that I worked.

And I just, I loved it.

I snowballed and haven't stopped ever since.

Do you remember what that wine was that you drank that made you homesick?

Funny enough, it was an opus.

Uh huh.

That's not funny.

Yeah, I think it was like a, I think it was like a 2009 My uncle Juan and my uncle Alex, I had both been working there for a very long time.

So my uncle Juan was one of their vineyard managers there for I think like 15 years.

My uncle Alex is still there and he's the cellar lead for Opus.

Nice.

Yeah.

When did you start here?

Back in 21.

Okay.

It'll actually be my three year anniversary in February.

Awesome.

And how did you find choice for a visit as a guest first?

No, so I have two golden retrievers and I was working at Sagsleep Winery.

My old hospitality manager, um, also used to work at Disney, so Disneyland.

And, uh, he was actually the, I believe, the hospitality manager for Club 33.

And, his, one of his colleagues actually put me on a Tres O'Bores and said, Your dogs are adorable, but, you know, there's a winery that has all these golden retrievers running around.

You should go and, and taste there.

It's called Tres O'Bores.

And I was like, might be worth checking out.

So I remember coming, coming up here one day, and it was actually me and my brother.

And my uncle Jerry and I came here for the first time and tasted and I was just blown away that something so small and magical existed because every other place that

I worked at had been this big and industrial winery with all this massive equipment and to see something so humble and so small like this it really was a breath of fresh air.

So it wasn't until Later on that after have been working at Stag Sleep for about four years that I was wanting to look into something a little bit smaller, kind of take a step back and work at a place that was a little smaller.

And funny enough, I saw that they had posted a job opening on winejobs.

com.

How

funny, that's fate.

That's the universe doing its thing.

Yeah, so I, I put in my application on Saturday and I literally got an email back on Sunday.

And I remember I was just so excited.

So filled with joy that I had gotten a response so quickly and came in to do an interview on that Monday and I got the job.

So coming up on three years, and so Jim also has aspirations of making wine, right?

I mean, you've been around production, but we've been talking especially over the last year about like the program at Davis And he's about ready to do your own thing.

What's the update there?

So I think I'm gonna go for it.

So yeah, the plan is to similarly like you is I love, love hospitality, love doing this, I still want to be involved, but have it as my Psy passion project.

I started off small.

I can see myself and envision myself in the next three years Probably buying some grapes and doing something for for my label because I've already got a couple names and drawn out Yeah, probably we'll start to experiment as of next year a little bit, but it won't be like something for official

Yeah, don't pay for the grapes yet.

Yeah when you're experimenting

That's exciting I'm excited for you, what do you feel a pull to want to make?

I really want to make Albariño.

That's something that I really want to make, so just, you know, Albariño is one of the first white wines that kind of really blew my mind in terms of being very complex but also very approachable and easy to pair with a lot of different kinds of food.

My family's roots are originally from Europe, so from Spain, so from the Martina side of the family, so paying an homage to that side of the family.

Kind of like me with San Gervasi, we had to make the grave of our ancestors.

That's awesome.

Yeah.

Cool.

So now there are how many resident golden retrievers here at the

moment?

There are three.

So there's Kava, who's our oldest.

She's now nine years old.

There's Bria, and there's Barry.

So he's a pup.

He's just six, seven months old now.

Yeah.

I'll have to bring him out to say hello.

Yeah.

And we knew him.

Yeah.

The patriarch of the Goldens, right?

Thanks for sharing your story.

Of course.

There's actually pieces in there that I had never heard.

That's the benefit of actually doing it formally.

Alrighty, so Thinking Cap White.

So this is the 2023.

So as you guys probably are familiar with this wine, it's a wine that changes every year.

So that's where the Thinking Cap name came from is Julie and John's aspiration to make something new and exciting every year.

This is actually one of my favorite blends that we've made as of the past few years.

It's a blend of five different white grape varieties.

that we sourced from the Sierra Foothills.

So these are all Southern Rhone native grapes, definitely considered more of a white Rhone blend.

So the base of this wine is a great variety called Petit Menseng, but there's also a little bit of Pequot Blanc in this, some Roussan, some Grenache Blanc, and a little bit of Claret Blanche.

Really aromatic on the nose.

I get a lot of that floral kind of honeysuckle orange blossom.

It's nice and bone dry, just like the rosé, but super food friendly.

I would definitely say much more of a wine you want to pair with lighter food.

So like, seafood, bay scallops, oysters on the half shell, crab, lobster.

I feel like so many people are not familiar with any of those five grapes that you just listed and they're like, what, are they like, what, what are they?

Oh

yeah, definitely.

It's

so fun and unique.

This is not something that you see this lineup of grapes here.

Hold on lady with the glorious accent.

Yep.

Yep.

Yep.

If you're going to read the side of the bottle, go ahead.

Like a breezy stroll

along a bayside pathway, morning sun on the back.

That's

specific.

Is that Julie's writing?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think it's a haiku, no?

Yes.

I just love that, as long as I've been coming here, which is, It's almost 20, 18 years.

The things that I love that I don't ever want to go away, like the Zinfandel, the Porcaynel, they don't.

But this tiny little portfolio still evolves and has new things, like Thinking Cap, like St.

Laurent, like Cap Franck, a recent addition.

Barbera.

Barbera.

Petite Sera.

That's been here as long as I've been coming here.

So it's fun to see there's the staples and then there's the fun experimentation of, Hey, we have access to this vineyard.

Let's try these grapes this year.

Right.

I just remember when my mom and I came here first visit from Orlando and I don't think I had Zinfandel.

I knew white Zinfandel like we were talking about, what's a rosé.

Pretty sure this was the first time experiencing like true Zinfandel and it's beautiful red, juicy.

I didn't think, I didn't know that Zinfandel was red.

Yeah,

I think a lot of people still don't.

Which

is why I did a whole podcast episode about it.

So when I say I'm taking Zinfandel somewhere, they're like,

Oh no, we would prefer to have red.

Yeah, but we don't call

it red Zinfandel because the red is implied.

And we shouldn't even call it white Zinfandel because it's not white, it's pink.

So again, all these perceptions that people have about wine are not helped by the way that we label things and call things.

Like we make it confusing, right?

Yeah.

What do you have there, Jim?

So

this is the 2022, so we just released this.

So Zinfandel is very important to our property.

It's a very old vineyard.

It was planted in 1970, back when this vineyard was planted.

Funny enough, it was the most planted grape in all of Napa.

Before Cab took over?

Before bully Cabernet was like, No, it's gonna be me.

Ha ha ha.

Ha ha ha.

Yeah.

Zinfandel, now from my experience working here, I've come to know that it is, uh, Pain in the rear to grow because it does have very uneven ripening patterns.

So as a result of that, what Julie will do in a given season is pick anywhere from 10 to upwards of 13, 14 different times in a single growing season on a six acre block down at the base of the property.

So that's pick everything off at proper sugar levels.

Phenolically speaking, making sure everything's in check.

It's all micro pecs.

And what's really unique about this property, it's all done by hand, but we do everything in bins.

So everything has been fermented.

So just that extra layer of attention to detail and every aspect of what goes into this wine But this is a little bit of a lighter zin compared to other vintages that we've done This is only 13.

9 percent alcohol pretty nice and light for zinfandel.

That is for zinfandel.

That's very conservative

Stereotypical california zin is known to be 15 16 easy those big juicy jammy zins from like lodi and paso robles This is everything but that this has got a lot of hibiscus teeny on the nose a little

bit of rose petal You I get this like really nice like almost roasted marshmallow characteristic, but just got that beautiful fresh fruit on the palate.

So like plum and blackberry, a little bit of pomegranate and cranberry.

Tannins are really nice and soft, really nice smooth finish.

Super drinkable now, but I always tell my guests this is a wine that if you like holding on to wines for special occasions you can hold this for the next 10 15 years easy.

Even just the smell of this makes me, I know you'll be surprised, emotional when I smell it.

Like very goose bumpy because this wine smells and tastes of this place.

Yeah.

And of these people.

I don't know how else to even describe it.

It's very unique.

It is very specific to here.

And then it's just, it's this place in a glass.

What's your favorite food pairing with this?

Something super simple.

Just like a nice red bolognese sauce pasta.

Approved.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Fun with red sauce.

I could

drink this with something.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Especially this vintage because it is a little bit lighter.

A little lighter.

Yeah.

Still a rich red wine.

Rich and fruity and spicy.

But more locally, if you were going to Farmstead down the road for dinner tonight, think of the Farmstead menu.

I've never been funny enough.

Never been.

What?

Never been.

You

are born and raised in the town.

James.

I'm going to call you James because you're in trouble.

Are you actually James?

James.

Jaime.

Jaime.

Yeah.

Jaime.

You've never been to Farmstead?

Never been.

Would you like

to come with us tonight?

Possibly ish.

You should

come with us.

We team many jobs.

Yeah.

And we're going to Farmstead.

Yeah.

And

he's sporting a race to

St.

Helena.

Well,

we may have to bring you and some of the Zinfandel to Farmstead tonight.

And I'm thinking the meatball app.

I'm thinking the, the burger.

The ribs.

As you can tell, we're all vegetarian.

Yeah, total carnivores here.

Actually, let me go grab something fun for you guys to try.

I'll be right back.

Oh,

okay.

Pulled something out from the library, so this is a 2013 State Zen.

Stop it.

I hope you brought a glass for yourself, please.

I'll go grab it.

And a chair.

I'll get you a chair.

What?

I actually just tasted this the other day and I tasted it again right now when I Corbin it.

It is phenomenal.

So it goes back to what you were saying is the zin smells and tastes of this place.

Yes.

But when my experience holding on to older wines is it helps me revisit things that I remember certain memories and experience.

It's a little

time capsule.

Yeah.

2013 we're even boring yet.

You said you graduated high school in 2015.

Okay, so you were like a teenager.

I was a kid, yeah.

While

you were having your nappies chained.

I

probably got into my parents wine way before I was supposed to.

That's a good thing.

That's what you do when you live here and you're surrounded by it, right?

Yeah.

Look at how probably influenced your career.

Yeah.

But thank

you for

calling this one.

So for an 11 year old wine, it is surprisingly holding on to its freshness.

Very well.

He even brought us extra sexy glasses.

Look at the color though.

The color is different.

Your

mouth

is watering.

My

gosh, Jim,

what a tree.

Yeah.

So we're going from 22,

22 to 20, 13.

Wow.

The train agrees.

Yes.

Get that in.

Yeah.

I just want to smell this all day.

Completely different nose.

Almost more, candied is the word that comes to my mind in a positive way.

Not, and that's, I just haven't even tasted it yet.

There's like this like really nice like cherry cola kind of thing going on.

Cherry

cola, cherry cordial.

Very cherry.

It's just sliding across the sides of my palate.

It's just,

yeah.

Totally different.

Wow.

Yes.

It's still got some life in it for 11 years.

Oh, yeah.

Okay, I'm sorry.

I'm going to say it.

It's yummy.

This is really special to taste.

This is get a glass.

Yeah, I'm gonna

grab one.

for a few moments.

This, this deserves like seated.

So you don't fall over.

Focused.

I mean they all do, right?

They all deserve that respect.

Who

cares about oaths?

Yeah.

Cheers friends, thanks for having us today.

Cheers, of course.

guys for having us.

One of the trademark things I always get in Julie's Infantels is a little bit of almost dried rose petal.

Just very subtly.

And it still keeps it 11 years later.

Even

with the age.

Thank you.

Of course.

Thank you guys for coming.

Okay, tell us who just came and interrupted.

Kava.

Yeah, so she just had her birthday.

She's nine now.

She's fifth generation in the blood lineage.

So Barry, the new puppy that we just got, he's the sixth generation in the blood lineage.

Sweet girl.

Wouldn't be able to do my job without her.

You still have your two goldens?

Yeah.

So you just feel like you're at home with these guys?

I remember when I came here with my mom the first time, we had a driver.

And we got out of the car, much like where we parked today.

And we started walking down this stone pathway.

Even the sound of this is so traceaborious, right?

And, and moose.

Big Golden came and greeted us in the car, and we were like, this is amazing!

We were done for.

Yeah, I tell everyone they have to come here.

Like you said, it's just unexpected.

It's a magical place.

Yeah,

it is magical.

It really

is.

And we really like that word.

We use that word a lot.

True.

Yeah.

Wow.

Okay, done.

I don't age my trisubarus.

I don't, in my wine fridge, have any that I'm sitting on.

Because I drink it so

quickly.

Yeah.

I drink it so quickly.

I need to build a little library.

This is a good reminder for me.

I think I only have five bottles myself.

Yeah.

Oh, and we're going to have some Borkano.

Borkano?

The 2020.

Two.

So this is the newest release.

So the past two, three vintages have all been more petit sera dominant.

So this is the first vintage in that sequence that has gone back to being more symptonal

dominant.

Yay, this is fun.

What always stuck with me besides the wine itself was the back label on Porque No.

Does anybody want to read it?

Well,

even the first line, Why not make a rich and spicy blend?

We asked ourselves.

Porque No.

Porque No.

Why not?

Zinfandel, 45%, Cabernet Sauvignon, 24%, and Petite Verneuil, 1%.

Grapes.

Filled flavor and complexity all summath.

Once their harvest day, we throw them a private party in our cellar.

And we're here to tell you they have a great time.

The result is before you a zesty, fruity, really tasty wine.

Wine you will love with anything or anyone.

Have great wine, we'll party, we say.

That was also inspiration for me on how to write a back

label by Julie, right?

Like, how fun.

I remember reading that for the first time.

I was like, this is so cool.

She just throws them all together.

And this is the first

one I

remember

from him.

Yeah.

What would you pair this with?

Oh my God.

Pizza is my go to, really.

So many red wines can go with pizza.

Now it depends on what's on the pizza, right?

But we do this a lot with Michael's Mexican cooking.

Whether it's his tacos, queso, enchiladas, briskets.

Mash burgers, yeah.

We had those mash burgers last week.

Yeah, just yeah, I'm

sorry.

I'm trying to come up with a non carnivorous answer, but it's a lot of cheese board.

Yeah, it's actually like curry that

we've made.

We hang out with it.

Yeah, the tight chicken curry.

Yeah,

that's

a great price point.

It

always has been a great

price point, right?

What does it retail?

40 42 I think it's gone.

Wine cub gets it for less.

I think in the 15 years I've been drinking this wine, it went from about 35 a bottle to 42, which is pretty amazing in the world that we live in with the cost of doing business.

Yeah, everyone that I bring here or send here is always amazing.

enamored of course with the place and the magic that we talk about here in this view, the dogs, the people.

The price point of these things for what they are is so rare in the place where we are sitting.

I've

been trying to nail that and now that the harvest is over once we get through the I'm going to sit down with Julie and John and interview them.

That's happening.

We just haven't coordinated our crazy schedules yet, but it will happen.

It will definitely happen.

Yeah, and it's going to be three hours long.

Yeah.

I hope, if I get my wish.

Thank you for sharing these beautiful ones with us.

Thank you for being such a good sport.

Of

course.

A little nervous for being my first podcast recording.

You're so

great.

You're a natural.

So if you're wondering, did we take Jim with us to Farmstead?

We absolutely did.

And we had a killer meal.

And guess what?

We brought along some of the 2013 Zinfandel and the pairings with Farmstead's deviled eggs, meatballs, ribs, and mac and cheese.

It's ridiculous.

So shout out again to Jim.

Thank you so much for a wonderful tasting and for your company at dinner.

If you are planning a visit to the Napa Valley anytime soon, you must, must, must have not only Tres Sabores winery on your list, but.

farmstead restaurant as well.

And I will put the link in the show notes for both of them.

Hopefully you have a better understanding, curiosity, appreciation of the Zinfandel grape and all that it can be.

And I encourage you to order some, whether it's the rosé or the beautiful, juicy red Zinfandel or one of my favorite blends on the planet, Porky.

No, why not?

As always, don't forget to leave us a rating or a review if you're enjoying the podcast.

And if you're really enjoying it, did you know that you can be a supporter?

And you can buy me a glass of wine using the support the podcast link in the show notes.

Go get some Zinfandel, book your trip to the Napa Valley, make your tasting appointment at Tres Sabores.

And whatever you do between now and those things, I hope that you sip well.

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