Biale Winery & Zinfandel
Yee Haw, Ride ‘em Cowboy! You want a rip roarin’, bang you between the eyes with a ball peen hammer, you’ll-need-Brightsmile-when-it’s-done-with-you wine?* Oh yeah, and one that tastes awesome to boot? Well pardner, you just mosied into the right saloon. Meet my pal. First name Biale, last name Zinfandel.
For all of you who know VdV, ya’ll are familiar with our penchant for the Zin. I mean, Zin has balls. 
Word.
BTW, Did you know J&J is…wait are, we’re not joined at the hip (well, not usually), so crazy about Zin we actually made our own? Hells yeah, pilgrims. Check it: Tawdry Cellars. Tag line: “Picked by Virgins, Stomped By Whores’. Yes, the TTB (the old Alcohol & Beverage Commission) put the kibosh on that line since we couldn’t in fact prove that the grapes were picked by virgins and stomped by whores. Buzzkills! Anyhoo, it’s not a bad little vine, but does not hold a flame thrower to any of Biales’ dozen or so Zins. Nope, none of ‘em. So enough tooting our own horn, back to our regularly scheduled 
programming: Biale.
As Zin Masters, we’ve known about Biale Winery for eons, and have on occasion enjoyed a bottle or four. But a) we’d never visited the winery itself and 2) hadn’t fully immersed ourselves in the brand . Well, kittens, one little visit to Napa and both problems were quickly and permanently resolved. Like a 2 fer deal.
So we rolled up to Biale in our Mini on Sunday, and it appeared we had the place pretty much to ourselves. I quickly tried the line on the other J that I’d reserved a private tasting. Ahh, but the beauty with the brains was not buyin’ any of it. Foiled! OK, we just chalked it up to a late afternoon on an overcast winter day. The winery is modest, not one of those Opus One or Quintessa-type affairs. But nice. You can tell it’s a family winery, and their focus is on the product, people.
They had two people behind the tasting bar. I think they were there to keep each other company. Super cool, knowledgeable and a kick to chat with. Brad and a woman we can’t remember the name of. I really need to start taking notes. Anyhoo, they made for a very fun tasting.
And (Biale management take note) she sold me on their wine club in record time. And since we only belong to one other club (Bella), that’s saying something. I mean, when you have virtually every winery in Cali plying you with free vino in hopes of a 
business-breakthrough-making VdV review, who needs ‘regular club shipments?’ Riiigghht..
So these guys make a lot of Zins! Black Chicken, Stagecoach, Napa Ranches, Grande, Zappa, Proprietary to name a few. Biale, get a decent website would ya? So it makes it easier to keep track of all these?! They also have a Syrah which was good, but we’re talkin’ Zins here. And these guys specialize in single vineyard Zins, which I dig. Each with its own distinct character.
And we tasted each one we could get our clammy paws on. They all share a similar style, which is fruit forward (although to varying degrees), dark fruit, nice spice (some more peppery, some more allspice) and well structured with nice finishes.
So let’s break it down for ya on a couple of these. First, Black Chicken, one of their highest production wines at about 2,000 cases or so if my feeble memory serves me. First though, a little story. Hey, stifle the moans! The way it goes, in the waning years of Prohibition, local residents would visit Pietro Biale
and ask for a “black chicken.” This was the code word for a jug of
Zinfandel. Aldo, who very unfortunately passed away recently, named one of his
Zinfandels after this story. Heartwarming, isn’t it?
Anyway, the 2007 Black Chicken: We started off with this baby, and it has excellent aromas of ripe blackberry and (to me) a slight nice, woodiness. On the palate, this Zin was very refined, it didn’t clobber you with a baseball bat, not did it tickle you with a feather. It tapped you with a stick. Meaning: It didn’t overwhelm you with alcohol or too much fruit, the brambly flavors came through in layers of dark berry fruit with just the right amount of tannins for a Zin, and a nice finish that mingled that faint woodiness I had on the nose with a little smokiness. This puppy goes for about $30-35 which ain’t cheap. But it’s a good Zin.
Another highlight was the Monte Rosso. This Zin was equally as dark and ruby in color as the Chicken, but with more of a dark plum and black cherry profile. There was also a bit of a subtle herbal quality which I dug, along with some nice white pepper. This is a full-bodied number, again very well made with an excellent taste from start to long finish. This vino sells for about $35-40 as well.
Best bet if ya wanna get yer hands on these somewhat rare vinos? In descending order: visit them in Napa, join their wine club, or hit Wine Searcher.
* OK, a bit of creative license, I get carried away. They have some more subtle and elegant Zins as well, but they are all ‘all killer, no filla’. Feel me? Good.
VdV Rating: 4
Biale Winery
4038 Big Ranch Road
Napa, CA
(707) 257.7555
