100% Zinfandel

Food pairings: Blackened, spice-rubbed chicken with herbed ricotta gnocchi, grilled meats, barbecue beef ribs and other dishes hot off the grill, and spiced dishes that echo the wine's dried herbs and baking spice.

Winemaking: The 2024 Black Chicken was aged for 15 months in French oak barrels, 30% of them new. The vintage began with well-saturated soils and budbreak in late March; cool weather during flowering in May extended berry set, and a warm summer gave way to moderate temperatures at veraison. Harvest ran from late August to early October, and a cooler spell in mid-September slowed the pace of picking, allowing exceptional development of flavors and tannins before an early-October heat wave brought it to a close.

Vineyards and terroir: The heart of Black Chicken comes from the Oak Knoll District, among them the same family vineyard the Biales have farmed since the 1930s, along with the estate vineyard around the winery, neighboring Oak Knoll growers and other long-standing winegrowing families in Napa Valley. The vines average about 40 years old. The Oak Knoll District, where Napa Valley's first Zinfandel vines were planted, lies in the cooler, breezier southern part of the valley near San Pablo Bay, on ancient marine sediments and rocky alluvial fan soils. The historic head-trained vines are tended vine by vine by hand, with cover crops and organic compost, and the winery is certified Napa Green and Fish Friendly Farming.

Family history: In 1937 Pietro Biale planted Zinfandel among the walnuts, prunes and vegetables on his new ranch on the Napa Valley floor. After he was killed in a quarry accident in 1942, his 13-year-old son Aldo and his mother Cristina kept the farm going, and Aldo began selling the family's homemade Zinfandel to neighbors on the side. Orders came in over the party-line telephone along with eggs and produce, and to fool nosy listeners and the authorities a jug of his inky Zinfandel was called a "Black Chicken". Aldo and his son Bob Biale founded Robert Biale Vineyards in 1991 with partners Dave Pramuk and Al Perry, and Black Chicken has been made legally since 1999 as a tribute to Aldo and to Zinfandel's place in Napa Valley history. Still family owned and now in its fourth generation, the winery on Big Ranch Road specializes in old-vine Zinfandel and Petite Sirah from historic vineyards; David Natali has been its winemaker since 2022.

In the pictures: The founders of Robert Biale Vineyards; the winery on Big Ranch Road in Napa; and ripe clusters on old vines in a Biale vineyard (photos courtesy of Robert Biale Vineyards).