Why it matters
The producer
Seghesio Family Vineyards is a Sonoma County producer whose name has been tied to Zinfandel since Edoardo and Angela Seghesio planted Home Ranch in northern Alexander Valley in 1895. Their first wines followed in 1902, and Zinfandel became the family speciality because it was planted, grown and sold through several generations of the business. The present range keeps that grape at the centre, moving from a Sonoma County bottling to old-vine and named-vineyard wines.
The estate now works with more than 300 acres across Sonoma County. That spread matters on the label: Sonoma Zinfandel is the broad regional wine, while Cortina narrows the focus to a named vineyard. The producer has been owned by Crimson Wine Group since 2011, following the sale of the Healdsburg winery, brand, inventory and vineyard land.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Sonoma County is the broad address for Seghesio’s Zinfandel, and northern Alexander Valley is the more specific home of its first vineyard. Home Ranch connects the founding family to a particular valley and year, rather than treating “Sonoma” as a single uniform place. On a bottle labelled Sonoma Zinfandel, fruit can come from the producer’s Sonoma growing areas; on a named-vineyard wine such as Cortina, the vineyard name becomes part of the wine’s frame.
That distinction helps explain the range. The county bottling is built as a regional expression of Zinfandel, while an old-vine wine brings the estate’s long planting history closer to the foreground. Cortina takes the next step by attaching the grape to a named source and a separate 2023 cellar treatment.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
Seghesio combines its old-vine history with current sustainable vineyard management and a sustainability certification. The practical result is a range organised by source: a Sonoma County wine, an Old Vine Zinfandel and a Cortina vineyard wine. Vine age supplies history and fruit source, but the tasting evidence—not the age statement alone—has to carry the claim about structure or finish.
In the cellar, the 2023 Cortina departed from conventional barrel élevage through the use of concrete. That choice separates Cortina from a straightforward oak-led description and gives the named-vineyard wine its own production detail. The 2023 Sonoma Zinfandel, by contrast, includes vanilla and oak among its documented aromas and flavours, with coffee and chocolate notes alongside dark fruit.
Wines to know
The range in view
The Sonoma Zinfandel is the broad regional bottle: 2023 tasting material records ripe blackberry, raspberry and dark cherry, with mint, chocolate, coffee, vanilla and oak. Its acidity, texture, tannin and finish are all part of the documented profile, so it is more than a ripe-fruit Zinfandel.
Old Vine Zinfandel shifts the emphasis toward Seghesio’s older vineyard material. Producer notes distinguish it through fruit concentration, structure and finish, making it a different expression from the county bottling rather than simply a grander label. Cortina Zinfandel is the named-vineyard branch of the range; its 2023 concrete élevage places a specific cellar decision alongside the vineyard name.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Begin with the 2023 Sonoma Zinfandel. It is Seghesio’s regional Zinfandel, so the Sonoma County label introduces the producer’s main grape without narrowing immediately to one vineyard. Expect blackberry, raspberry and dark cherry, followed by mint, coffee, chocolate, vanilla and oak; acidity, tannin and texture keep the fruit firm through the finish. It comes first because the bottle joins the estate’s Sonoma setting, long Zinfandel history and current range in one glass.