A bottle of 2022 Black Sears Estate Zinfandel wine with a dark label on a light background.

BLACK SEARS · HOWELL MOUNTAIN

2022 Black Sears Estate Zinfandel

$80.00
The 2022 Estate Zinfandel comes from the same twelve-acre, head-trained, dry-farmed block planted in 1975 — old St. George rootstock, bud wood from the historic Hayne Vineyard in St. Helena, atop an old apple orchard at 2,400 feet on Howell Mountain. The most elevated Zinfandel site in the entire AVA. The 2022 growing season brought concentration and depth — a wine that is unmistakably from this place, and unlike any Zinfandel you've tasted from anywhere else. Fewer than 50 cases remain.
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The 2022 opens with dark berry, black cherry, and a thread of white pepper on the nose — with the characteristic hints of leather and lavender that define this block. On the palate, concentrated and structured — blackberry, currant, graphite, and baking spices, with firm tannins that are better integrated than the 2021. The classic Black Sears earthiness arrives at the finish, pulling everything back to the forest floor at 2,400 feet. Long, specific, and completely itself.

Whichever Italian comfort food comforts you best, a vibrant mixed-greens salad, warm garlic bread, and the most decadent dark chocolate you can find. Set the volume to a reasonable 5 and drop the needle on John Coltrane's Giant Steps. Quietly contemplate the Circle of Fifths. Then raise a glass to the vineyard — planted in 1975, still here, still producing something the Napa Valley will never see again.

Vintage
2022
Varietal
Zinfandel
Appellation
Howell Mountain AVA, Napa Valley
Vineyard block
Black Sears Estate
Elevation
2,400 feet
Winemaker
Thomas Rivers Brown
Harvest date
October 8, 2022
Bottling date
September 2024
Farming
Organic/Biodynamic (totally uncertified)
Aging
22 months French Oak, 1/2 new, 1/2 year-old
ABV
15.0%
Acidity
5.7 g/L
pH
3.80
Drinking window
2024–2034

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A bottle of 2022 Black Sears Estate Zinfandel wine with a dark label on a light background.
A bottle of Black Sears Estate Zinfandel on a table

The Vineyard Turns 50

In 1975 someone planted Zinfandel on a mountaintop on Howell Mountain. Old St. George rootstock. Bud wood from the Hayne Vineyard in St. Helena. Head-trained, dry-farmed, atop an old apple orchard, spaced 8-by-12 feet at 2,400 feet — the most elevated Zinfandel site in the AVA.

That person could not have known what they were planting. Not just a vineyard, but a decision that would outlast them — one that the Sears family has steadfastly refused to undo, even as every economic incentive pointed toward Cabernet.
The 2022 is the vineyard's 47th vintage. Thomas Rivers Brown made it, as he has every vintage here. Fewer than 50 cases exist.

When a wine is grown at this elevation, on this soil, from vines this old — it doesn't need much explaining. It just needs to be tasted.

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Every wine we make comes from the same 24 acres on Howell Mountain. Different varietals, different blocks - the same wild, specific place.

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