Nalle Winery was recently featured in an article at The Grape Collective, titled “Keeping it in the Family: Next Generation Successes in Sonoma County.” Below is a snippet from the article, please click here to read the full article and Nalle Winery feature, over at the Grape Collective >
“As a family, we are committed to making this work.” Andrew Nalle
Central to the Nalle Winery story is Lee Henderlong Nalle’s four-generational family history. Her great-grandparents, John and Martha Henderlong (1st generation), lived in Dry Creek Valley and were ranchers, as were Lee‘s grandparents, Fred and Ruby Henderlong (2nd generation). Fred and Ruby purchased property in Dry Creek Valley and planted grapes. Lee’s parents (3rd generation) inherited this property and granted permission to Lee and Doug (4th generation) to construct a building on the property to process grapes they purchased from the Henderlong’s historic benchland Zinfandel vineyard, now listed with the Historic Vineyard Society.
Lee and Doug built a home on the property in 1983 and, as noted above, a winery in 1990. The grapes from the Zinfandel vines planted in 1927 by Lee’s grandparents, together with fruit sourced from local growers, are used in crafting Nalle wines.
Nalle Winery was started with the intention of making elegant, complex Zinfandels (Zins) in the European style of notable red wines. “We were following tradition using French oak and making wines under 14% alcohol. We wanted our wines to be food friendly.” Doug had long been inspired by the wonderful Zins crafted in the 1960s by Joe Swan of Joseph Swan Vineyards and Lee Stewart of Souverain and characterized by moderate alcohol levels. The challenges associated with doing so were well known, but this was his passion.
The first vintage of Nalle Zinfandel was in 1984. Since then, Doug produced vintage after vintage of stellar Zins, all the while staying true to his philosophy of maintaining moderate alcohol levels. His 1987 Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel garnered 92 points from Wine Spectator confirming his belief in how great Zins could be made. His 2007 Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel ranked third of the wines tasted for the article, “Zinfandel Steps Back From the Abyss,” by Eric Asimov, wine critic for the New York Times. The only wine below 14 percent in the tasting panel, it was described “as graceful yet well flavored, and lacked nothing.”
Continue to read the rest of the article at the Grape Collective >