The 2016 Zinfandel Cortina is medium ruby in color and youthfully coiled on the nose, taking its time to release scents of sliced nectarine, rhubarb, boysenberry and blueberry accented by dried flowers, warm earth, garrigue and loads of spiciness. The palate is still tight and reticent to show its juicy fruits. It has a soft texture and very pleasing, juicy acidity, finishing long. I suspect this will reward another couple of years in bottle. 2,458 cases produced.

The 2015 Zinfandel Cortina is medium garnet-purple in color with a seducing nose of lilacs, rose hip tea, dusty soil and garrigue over a core of kirsch, baked raspberries and mulberries plus a touch of baking spices. Big, rich, full-bodied and equally seductive in the mouth, it has a firm frame of grainy tannins and great freshness, finishing long and spicy. 2,500 cases produced.

Medium garnet colored, the 2014 Zinfandel Cortina offers baked black cherries, mulberries, prunes and eucalyptus notes with a Chinese five spice and forest floor undercurrent. Full-bodied, the palate delivers a relatively fresh style with plenty of spicy black fruit preserves backed up by lively acid and a light grip of chewy tannins, finishing long and earthy.

. The 2013 Zinfandel Cortina, which comes from their lowest yielding, dry farmed vineyards, exhibits perhaps the deepest level of fruit intensity, with loads of raspberries, black cherries, some spice, a full-bodied earthiness, moderately high alcohol (as all of these do) at 14.8%, but a long, layered finish. This is probably one of my favorites of this grouping. Drink it over the next 5-7 years.

From Dry Creek Valley, the 2012 Zinfandel Cortina is named for the gravelly, loamy soil from which this wine is sourced. It exhibits a dark ruby color, peppery, strawberry fruit, medium body, but surprisingly not the power and overall depth and richness of the 2013 Sonoma Zinfandel. Nevertheless, it is a good effort that should be consumed over the next several years.