End of Nowhere Zinfandel Perfect Disguise Amador County 2022 750ml

It is exciting to witness the continued growth of great winemakers and vineyards in the mountainous terrains of the Sierra Foothills. While Rhône varieties are at the forefront of this renaissance, one cannot ignore the fact that Zinfandel is an integral part of the story and the grape that originally brought winemakers from the California coast to places like Amador County. Zins from Amador are notorious for being big and robust in style but things have been changing recently, and with the addition of vineyards such as Shake Ridge in 2001, and wineries like Turley setting up shop, Amador has started to find its balance. So you can imagine our excitement at Bowler when we tasted a refreshingly delicious carbonic Zin from a winery called “End of Nowhere” and saw that it was from an old-vine vineyard in Amador County. A bridge between the old and the new, and a great addition to our Sierra Foothills crew. Owner, winemaker, and farmer Chris Walsh grew up in Amador County. After graduating college, he moved to New York City to pursue a career in architectural lighting design, but eventually fell into the restaurant/wine scene. In 2014, after a few years of working at wine bars like The Tangled Vine and Corkbuzz Wine Studio, Chris moved back to his hometown and purchased a 20-acre site across the dirt road from the house he grew up in. He named it Little John Lane Vineyard after the name of the dirt road, and planted mostly Rhône varieties; he now has about 5 acres under vine. He farms organically and hopes to dry-farm once the vines are established. The soil is extremely volcanic and the vineyard is at the highest elevation in Amador County at 3300 feet.