14/10/2026
Last week it was announced that Tomich W**es had taken over the Nepenthe W**es cellardoor in Balhannah, so when I was in the cellar at home the other day, I grabbed a 2001 Nepenthe W**es Adelaide Hills Lenswood Zinfandel for this week's W**e Back Wednesday. I was involved in the vineyard development from the early days and then ended up in the w**ery working with Peter Leske for five vintages.
Zinfandel is grown predominantly in California and as Primitivo in Italy. So what a conundrum: Adelaide Hills Zinfandel, especially Lenswood, which is more synonymous with Chardonnay and Pinot noir, although the 2001 vintage was dry and hot, resulting in the Zin being pretty bold. Ordinarily, we would use two main vineyard techniques to ensure the fruit ripened more and reduce the chance of disease. With its large-berried, tight bunches, before flowering, we would nip the bottom of the inflorescences (immature bunches) off. This would reduce the crop load and in time would give the berries more space and overall airflow, leading to reduced disease incidence. Then, when the fruit was nearly flavour ripe, about 30% of the canes would be cut, leading to subtle fruit dimpling and flavour concentration before picking 5-7 days later.
With the dry, hot season in 2001, these techniques were very effective—maybe too effective, especially the cane cutting—as the alcohol level in this w**e hit 16.5%, which isn't that unusual in Zinfandel, as uneven ripening often occurs and sugars are often elevated.
About 10 months in predominantly older French oak, with a splash of older US oak, the w**e has a brilliant light tawny / brick red colour (as it is 25 years old) with a nose full of Christmas cake, spice, fresh leather and meaty notes. The palate shows less age and is quite vibrant with good acidity, fresh fruit cake, spice, fine tannins and a subtle warmth from the 16.5% alcohol leading to an associated sweetness. Overall, it's still pretty turbo charged and has quite a fitting Zin profile. In a "more normal" year, the w**es were usually around 15% with a more rounded fleshy / spicy profile.
**es zin primitivo
