Unti is a true wine estate owned and operated by George and Mick Unti, who are irrationally committed to making European-style wines from Mediterranean grape varieties in Dry Creek Valley.
This wine is really a throw back to the classic old vine Zins in Dry Creek, where Petite Sirah provides a more structured style. It is dark and full-bodied with flavors of boysenberry and pepper. The Barbera keeps the wine from being too clunky by adding freshness.
This Zinfandel comes from our Primitivo-clone vineyard planted next to the winery in 1998. We favor the Primitivo clone because it tends to produce berries that are smaller and with thicker skins, versus typical Califronia Zinfandel selections.
This 2015 Syrah Benchland is another classic vintage in the mold of our 2007 or 2012, meaning it has an extra dimension of fruit to
go along with the savory elements and tannin structure we are accustom to seeing from this vineyard.
Our Syrah Benchland was planted in 1991, making it our oldest vineyard block. The Syrah budwood came from the Durell vineyard in Sonoma. The chalky/rocky well-drained soils have always produced small berries, resulting in dark and intense wine. There is an unmistakable smoked meat element to wine from this vineyard, making it our most unique Syrah.
In 2004 we planted an experimental block of Grenache Blanc, Picpoul, and Vermentino. All three of these varieties are native to the Mediterranean areas of Europe, and as such, tend to retain natural acidity and mineral character in warmer climates. Vermentino is the white of both Sardinia and Liguria in Italy. Grenache Blanc is one of the key components to Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc and the white wine from Spain’s Priorat and Terra Alta. We now have almost three acres planted to these varieties.
In our Cuvée Blanc blend Vermentino provides fruit and aromas, Grenache Blanc mineral flavors and texture. The notion of a Dry Creek Valley white wine that is suitable with raw oysters still blows my mind. It signals a new style of California white wine, rendering sweet, barrel-fermented Chardonnays passé.
This 2016 represents our classic style of Barbera, which is quite similar to the full-bodied Barberas from Italy’s DOCGs in Asti, Monferrato, and Nizza. It possesses deep color, exotic fruit, spice and floral aromas, with a juicy mouth-feel from solid acidity. This 2016 is one of our most full-bodied Barberas, thus it has the potential to age a little longer.
We now have 6 acres of organically farmed Barbera planted in two blocks, located on our winery ranch. Our original Barbera block was planted in 1998, and we subsequently planted 4 more acres gradually since then.
