Albini Family Vineyards is among the smallest bonded operations in Sonoma County: Don and Lynne Albini make 275 to 500 cases a year of unfiltered Merlot and Zinfandel from their family estate in Windsor, in the eastern Russian River Valley. Yields are kept to 2 to 3 tons per acre. Every step happens by hand: indigenous-yeast fermentation in small open-top fermenters, cap punched down three to four times a day, half-ton basket pressing, wine moved barrel to barrel by bucket rather than pump, and every bottle filled by hand. Both wines are unfiltered. The Russian River Valley Merlot ages 20 months in a mix of French and American oak; the Zinfandel ages 18 to 20 months in primarily American oak.
Russian River Valley Merlot: unfiltered and hand-bottled, aged 20 months in French and American oak; soft, cherry-driven and cedary.
Russian River Valley Zinfandel: aged 18–20 months primarily in American oak; bold, spicy and concentrated.
Ponzo Vineyard Zinfandel, Russian River Valley: a single-vineyard Zin from low-yield estate fruit.
Albini Family Vineyards is a tiny Windsor estate established in 1991 by Don and Lynne Albini, producing only about 275–500 cases a year of Merlot and Zinfandel, and nothing else. Everything is hand-made: indigenous-yeast fermentation, hand punch-downs, basket-pressed, unfiltered and hand-bottled. A genuine two-variety specialist house.
Albini Family Vineyards is one of Sonoma County's smallest bonded wineries: Don and Lynne Albini press, punch down, and bucket wine from fermenter to barrel by hand on their family estate in Windsor. Annual production runs between 275 and 500 cases split between Merlot and Zinfandel, both Russian River Valley designations, both unfiltered and hand-bottled. Over half the wine goes directly to mailing-list customers, with the remainder placed in a small handful of California and East Coast restaurants and wine shops. Visits are strictly by appointment, and the winemaker himself usually hosts. An authentic expression of what true garagiste farming looks like in Sonoma.
