The Sonoma Grove Zinfandel 2022 is a wine I found at Trader Joe’s, selling for $7.99. It is wine from the Navigator Wine Collection, which, up until recently, was known as Precision Wine Company. They have made many wines for Costco and Trader Joe’s.
The Story
The label says the grapes are sourced from Sonoma County. Zinfandel grapes were first planted in the area in the late 1800s. While no definitive location is mentioned, the Sonoma Valley, Russian River, Dry Creek, and Alexander AVAs are the prime Zinfandel-growing locations.
The Zinfandel grape is unusual in that the grapes in a bunch do not ripen at the same time. A single bunch can have yet to ripen grapes, too ripe grapes, and grapes beginning to rot. The result is a rich, spicy wine that can challenge the winemaker.
The Sonoma Grove Zinfandel 2022 has a bit of aging, released in the winter of 2025, not often seen in a $7.99 wine. Time is money and time to fully develop is often only reserved for more expensive wine.
There has been a major slowdown in California wine sales in the last couple of years. This could well be a wine that was looking for an outlet.
Sonoma Zinfandel wine tends to be elegant, and Lodi Zinfandel is seen as juicy and spicy.
The alcohol content is 14.5%.
The Sonoma Grove Zinfandel 2022 Tasting Notes
The color is an almost opaque strawberry jam red. The nose is dark berries and spice, black pepper, raspberry, a hint of mocha, and a lightly floral edge. The Sonoma Grove Zinfandel 2022
This Zinfandel tastes like blackberry, black coffee, plum, and a hint of spice. Then milk chocolate, a slight pull from the tannins, and tart cranberry.
This Zinfandel has balanced acidity.
The Summary
- The price is right ($7.99) for the Sonoma Grove Zinfandel 2022
- This is a tasty, interesting, easy-to-drink Zinfandel.
- Maybe more of a sipping wine than a food wine, but it would do well with comfort food.
Pretty good review for this very decent Zinfandel for the money. I lived in Santa Rosa, CA, which is in the heart of Sonoma County from 1984 to 1994, so I’m well versed on the Zinfandels from this area. I’m actually drinking this tonight for the first time. I found this good review, and just wanted to add a bit to it as a former resident of Sonoma County.
In the fall of 1994, as I was preparing to move, I had a friend find me a job working a crush at a local winery. This winery was part of the Nestle Conglomerate which owned Beringer Vineyards, Chateau Souverain, the ASTI Winery and several others. The primary focus of all of these wineries at that time was the production of Beringer White Zinfandel. We were crushing 20-50 tons of Zinfandel grapes every day to meet the high demand for that particular wine. Most of the grapes crushed for this specific wine were as Domaine Dave described… some very red and ripe, some not quite ripe and some still green. We were essentially making a sweet, low alcohol beverage with them , so we weren’t too discerning about the quality of the grapes.
Having said that, I must add that we also would receive very high quality Zinfandel grapes that were specifically for the excellent Red Zinfandel wine series. These grapes were always fully, and very evenly ripened. So, this varietal can ripen evenly if grown by a good, dedicated vigneron.
I’d like to finish by stating that the 2022 Sonoma Grove Zinfandel in review here is a great bang-for-the-buck wine. Plummy, dark cherry and jammy fruits. Lots of vanilla on the palate, so it spent some time in good. lightly charred oak barrels. Good acidity, very well balanced with a clean dry aftertaste. Cheers!
Thanks for your knowledge, much appreciated!