This may be the finest Zinfandel vintage that proprietor Jerry Seps has yet produced. He has been trying to build a multilayered texture into his wines, which have had a predilection to be structured and closed, yet ageworthy. Seps appears to have admirably accomplished that in 1997, producing wines with the potential to age yet having a certain accessibility. This offering is higher in alcohol than usual, with a softer texture and deep concentration. The 1997 Zinfandel Howell Mountain The Last Hurrah (this vineyard, once known as the Park-Muscatine Vineyard, is being replanted with Cabernet Sauvignon) is a backward wine, with copious amounts of the mineral/blueberry character that emerges from this terroir. A classic Zinfandel, it offers good fatness, structure, and muscle, an opaque ruby/purple color, and a sweet mid-palate. It will improve over the next several years, and keep for a decade or more.
Robert Parker
90+