E.B. Foote Winery

Owners/winemakers Rich Higginbotham and Sherrill Miller produce approximately 2,200 cases each year and do all the work themselves at this tiny, artisanal winery. Fruit is sourced from eastern Washington, in the famous Columbia Valley AVA.

The source of this wine, the Milbrandt Vineyard, is located in the Wahluke Slope AVA, which lies in the center of Columbia Valley north of the Yakima Valley. It is one of the state's warmest growing regions, and produces about 20 percent of the entire harvest each year for the Washington wine industry. Butch Milbrandt's vineyard is known for copious sunlight and heat, and is a much sought after source of Syrah as well as Zinfandel.

Brilliant, clear ruby with a red-violet edge, this rich, viscous wine is forthcoming with assertive notes of candied cherry, forest berry jam, banana peel, rose petal, spearmint, clove, maple syrup, and cream of mushroom soup on the nose. With all this blockbuster fruit and oak the wine could very easily go over the top, but instead the palate is silky, well-balanced, and seamless with almost understated fruit. At 15.6% alcohol, it is relatively light as Zin’s go these days.

Reviewed January 30, 2007 by Catherine Fallis.