I agree with most of what you are saying; however, don't overlook the fact
that here in Sonoma and Napa, we have very diverse areas of climate and
terrior. While Sonoma Valley, and even parts of the Russian River Valley,
can produce some excellent old vine Zins, they may not do so well in Green
Valley, which is cooler, densely forested, influenced by marine air, and
gets heavy fog and rainfall. We have 100+ year old head trained Zin vines in
RRV that do exceptionally well, but they are farther inland and North, where
it's warmer, dryer, and much sunnier

There are varieties better suited to Emilio's area than Zin, but he
certainly can't hurt anything trying to grow it. I'd say go for it and lets
us know how it goes!

-Rob


"Aaron Puhala" > wrote in message
...
> Emilio,
>
> I have to say that while there may be a stylistic norm for zinfandel in
> California that makes for super strong and very heavy fruit-forward Zins,
I
> think Sonoma will proove to be much better suited to the variety for the
> production of fine Zins with ageworthiness. One of the best California
> Zinfandel's I've tasted was Sebastiani's
> Sonoma valley Old Vines Zinfandel. ...