2020 Carol Shelton 'Oakley' Planchon Vineyard Old Vine Zinfandel

🍷 They have quickly risen in popularity to become one of our most requested wineries lately.

🍷 We caught their inventories at rock bottom without a single wine long enough to last the day.

🍷All are too yummy to pick one over another, so we’ll be moving through them as they sell out.

All with great scores and at never-before-seen prices that are essentially giveaways for the quality and complexity that you can always count on with Carol’s winemaking.

Next up? It’s Oakley time! This Zinfully yummy beauty hails all from a gnarly old vine (130+ years young, hello?) site in the precious Contra Costa, hope to many a legacy source such as the Planchon Vineyard. It was actually the legendary Peter Franus and the late Zin master Kent Rosenblum who were instrumental in putting this vineyard on the map in the late 1990s. Carol took the baton and ran with this super fresh take on a complex classic. It’s beyond words delicious, you have to see for yourselves.

Carol Shelton has mastered the Zen of Zin as a proclaimed Queen of the varietal. We've rolled out some of her Cabs before, but when we feature a Shelton Zin - (her specialty) - Operatives go BERZERK. Rightfully so! We hear you, and go back to the winery to see what they have for us, it’s often a nothing.

But here it is Ops! It’s our/your day. Arguably the greatest Zin values you’ll come across this year, maybe ever. The price tags you see here are the lowest today, tomorrow, basically anytime they will ever be.

If you're unfamiliar with the legacy of Carol Shelton, here's a must-watch ZAP panel on the Queen of Zin with fellow luminaries Joel Peterson, Larry Turley, and Kent Rosenblum:

We really don’t have the space here to list all her accolades. And surely not enough of this wine to waste more time. But know this - she's a true legend. A few noteworthy ones include The André Tchelistcheff Award in 1993, Winemaker of the Year by Press Democrat in 1999, San Francisco Chronicle in 2005, and NorthBay biz in 2022 and 2023.

“A winemaker since 1978…” expounds Wine Industry Advisor “…Shelton is well known in the industry as a maker of world-class single-vineyard Zinfandels…”

For this crazy price, a wow wine indeed, the scores don’t do justice. Very little was left… if you check back often today, there are more!

92 Points – Wine Enthusiast “Another beautifully executed Zin from Carol Shelton, here made from grapes harvested from the 130-year-old Planchon Vineyard. Its full body incorporates a firm, mature tannic structure that's balanced well by the concentrated juicy black and blue fruits that hold center stage from start to finish. There's an herbaceousness as well as oak-infused sprinkles of spices that add additional layers. Would pair well with a wood-fired wild mushroom pizza.”