2016 Three Wine Company Established 1885| Old-Vine Richness, Power, and Energy
The 2016 Three Wine Company Established 1885 displays a warm baked plum, dried strawberry, black cherry, and spiced-cake aromas rest at the wine’s core. While tones of burnt sage, worn leather, and crushed walnuts fill in the background.
The palate is warm, soft, and spicy, offering generous amounts of plush red and black fruits with tar-laden tones of licorice and resinous herbs. Full, long, and generous on the palate, this bottle is in a sweet spot right now and is ready to be enjoyed while this small release lasts! Drink now–2027+
Red Wine Gems Under $35
Matt Cline has called the rich and sumptuous Established 1885 his “dream wine.” Ask him about this perfectly balanced blend of
- Alicante Bouschet
- Carignan
- Petite Sirah
- Zinfandel
- Mataro
- and Black Malvoisie
and you’ll hear his genuine passion while he relays the uniqueness that makes this wine a dream fulfilled.
Cline, whose wines have inspired thousands of near-perfect member reviews, described the Established 1885. “In the beginning, you get red and black fruit from the Zin, which develops into black cherry and silky tannins from the Carignane. The Mataro is the glue that keeps it all together with earthiness and spice.”
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The Zinfandel in the 2016 is predominantly from Bigelow Vineyard, with some fruit coming from Live Oak and Evangelho, the famed vineyard whose grapes also go into Ridge and Bedrock. The Mataro (aka Mourvèdre) hails from Spinelli, while the Carignan comes from Sandy Lane and Bigelow. To the Zin-Mataro-Carignan trifecta, Matt adds splashes of Petite Sirah and Alicante Bouschet to deepen the wine’s color and aromatics.
Powerhouse Unique Red Blend
Turley, T-Vine, Hess, and Bedrock Wine Co. What’s the connection they all share? A zealot-like dedication to making powerhouse reds from the most storied vineyards in the Golden State. While vines that Matt Cline has helped save from county bulldozers. Hence, the 2016 Three Wine Company Established 1885 is drawn from three of the oldest sites in California’s Contra Costa County: Evangelho, Spinelli, and Lucchesi.
While all of these parcels are decades into their second century. And all have served as sources of Matt’s single-vineyard masterworks. The combination of Zinfandel, Mataro, and Carignane in “Established 1855” come together in the kind of black-fruited wine that only vines of advanced age can produce.
Consequently, a gem boasting deep concentration balanced by scintillating natural acidity. Released at $38, and only $25 thanks to our rock-solid relationship with Matt.
Winemaker Matt Cline
When talking to winemaker Matt Cline, it’s tough to keep the conversation focused on one specific wine. That’s because Matt knows more about —and has done more with —sites that are so deeply woven into California’s long grape-growing history. So to tell the story of this bottling out of its historical context would be all but impossible.
Yet none of Matt’s wines is steeped in more history than Established 1885. Not only do all three vineyard sites reach back into the 19th century. But the blend is itself a reflection of the varieties that dominated the landscape during the California wine industry’s early days.
Rather, the fact that these vineyards are still thriving today is a testament to the wisdom and industriousness of the Portuguese and Italian immigrants who planted them by labor-intensive trial and error.
