Sky Old Vine Zinfandel 2012

With a decade in bottle, the variety has faded into the background, revealing a sweet, elegant, stony and savoury wine of terroir—almost classical Bordeaux-weighted—that is hard to stop sipping. Each sniff and sip reveals something evocative and new. At the same time, the wine’s svelte, braided tannin and mass of bright acidity provide a fine canvas for the wine’s procession of mellow raspberry, resin, earth, black tea and spiced meat notes. In a word: compelling.

This year’s label is a photograph of a redwood carving of a dragon, taken by Lore’s daughter, Mayacamas. Lore has been creating these kinds of pieces for 60 years and loved the photo depiction of the work. “The dragon is the hero and survives all the battles.”