As the wine opens, the enticing aromatics that make you want to dive into the glass shift from pronounced tart cherry and black pepper to ripe blackberry with hints of dried fine herbs. A smooth entry leads into just the right amount of vibrant acidity, making the flavors pop. Savor a fusion of dark cherry, blackberry, and dried strawberry laced with traces of dried herbs, black pepper, sweet tobacco, loamy earth, and lavender. The layers of flavors create a roundness that balances the bright acidity to offer up a lovely, easy sipper. With so many perfect pairings, it’s tough to just pick a few. Try it with your favorite lasagna with garlic bread on the side, or smoked brisket with curly fries and a range of barbecue sauces from sweet to spicy.
Vintage
The 2021 is our twelfth vintage from this block. As a 100% varietal from Tollini Vineyard, it truly showcases what the grape is capable of when grown in the right location. This wine hits the high notes, with power and depth behind it, and a purity and clarity one would expect from this ancient varietal.
Specs
Vintage: 2021
Composition: 100% Barbera
Vineyard: Tollini Vineyard
Appellation: Redwood Valley, Mendocino
Harvest Date: September 20, 2021
Barrel Aging: 22 months
Cooperage: 100% neutral oak barrels
Bottling Date: June 28, 2023 (unfined & unfiltered)
Aromas of dark cherry and black raspberry mingle with hints of brown spices and a touch of earthiness. Lively, juicy flavors of black cherry and strawberry fill the palate, while traces of pomegranate and rhubarb add interest and depth. The vivid fruit is balanced with a very subtle essence of mocha-laced oak. The smooth mouthfeel and inviting blend of flavors create an easy-drinking, no-thinking wine. And yet, the complexity and quality give you pause as you sip this seamlessly delicious Rhône blend. An ideal wine to grab when enjoying conversation with friends, diving into a good book, or unwinding after a long day. It will also pair perfectly with take-out pizza or a Reuben sandwich with fries, and can easily complement something elegant like lamb chops with herbs and garlic served with a wild mushroom rice pilaf.
Vintage
Our Zero Manipulation is blended using 100% Tollini Vineyard fruit, and is the first in our line of wines honoring this great vineyard and farmer/friend to the north. We’ve produced Zero every year since 2000 using old vine Carignane as the dominant varietal, and in 2020, it makes up 62% of the blend. From this core of spicy, zippy red fruit flavors, we’ve added layers of depth, complexity, and balance with Grenache and Syrah. Our goal in the blend is to create a wine that is a true bistro wine—tasty, food-friendly, full of soul, and almost refreshing, without ever becoming heavy. As our original t-shirt proclaimed, this wine is always “easy to use and cheap to operate.”
Best in Class, Double Gold and 97 points ~ 2025 Press Democrat North Coast Wine Challenge
The blended noble beast. A high class ass. Call it what you like and kick off your heels, this brawny yet silky blend is not shy on personality. 100% sourced from the sustainably farmed Tollini Vineyard in Mendocino each year, the core of the wine is built from the more robust varieties. We bring a little zip and balance with fruitier and spicy blended flavors. Enjoy now or lay it down, this wine lets you have your cake and eat it too.
Specs
Vintage: 2022
Varietal: 46% Syrah, 42% Petite Sirah, 8% Grenach, 4% Carignane
Appellation: Redwood Valley
Vineyard Designation: Tollini Vineyard
Bottling Date: 07/24/2024
Alcohol: 13.7%
Production: 550 cases
What’s Included
6-bottles:
2x 2021 Peterson Barbera, Tollini Vineyard
2x 2020 Peterson Zero Manipulation, Tollini Vineyard
Peterson Winery has been producing wine in Dry Creek Valley for 30 years and, like most wineries in the Valley, produces Zinfandel as well as other wines. Yet a closer look shows that is where the similarities end.
Owner Fred Peterson is an iconoclast with an old world winemaking philosophy and a reverence for sustainable farming. The Peterson approach is to capture the essence of vintage and vineyard—a philosophy they call Zero Manipulation—with low tech, yet high touch, to produce wines of a place, wines with soul. The evolution of Peterson wines and winemaking accelerated when Fred’s son Jamie became assistant winemaker in the summer of 2002. In 2006, after moving from the tiny red barn on Lytton Springs to Timber Crest Farms, Jamie was given the overall responsibilities as winemaker. As a winegrowing team, Fred and Jamie assess the grapes from each vineyard and vintage as the season progresses, evaluating how the weather, soil, and site are interacting for the particular vintage.
At Peterson Winery, the winemaking process begins while the grapes are still on the vines. Zero Manipulation is a discipline the Petersons follow to capture the character and balance of inherent in the grapes. Zero Manipulation means using the most gentle, traditional winemaking practices possible to maximize the flavors, aromatics, and texture of the wines. Fred and Jamie celebrate vintage differences and don’t tweak or homogenize the wine to obtain consistency of flavors, a common practice in mass-market wineries. For Fred and Jamie, Peterson Winery is all about the wines. But if you look a little deeper, you’ll see the heart and soul that goes into every bottle.
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KY, LA, ME, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, OH, OR, RI, SC, TX, VT, WA, WV, WI, WY
I got the email and UPS notification that I get the chance to Rat again! Since the weather is warming up in my part of the country I put the wine into the fridge for longer than I usually would since I knew the ambient temps would warm it up very quickly. The wine was a deep plum color in a pretty jewel tone when I poured it. On the first sniff I immediately got a lot of fruit, mostly dark berries and currants, a little mustiness (in a good way), and not much else, but that could have been because it was at a lower temperature. I gave it a sip and I still got a surprising amount of fruit, but also some nice creamy notes with a hint of nuttiness. I would say this wine has medium to high tannins, but the amount of fruitiness really mellows it out. I can see someone who maybe is not as into dry wines or trying to build their palette really enjoying this. I had this wine with some Beef Stroganoff and it did a great job of standing up to the rich sauce without overpowering it. It definitely enhanced the flavors of the Dijon mustard in the sauce. I also drank a few glasses the next day without food and the wine was just as good and flavors held true to the tastes on the first day. I enjoyed the wine just as much on its own and I felt it had a great balance that you would really want from a blend. I think this is a good buy and I don’t have room, but I might have to get in on this deal!
Got a bottle of this around 2 weeks ago and tried it right away. I guess I thought it would be here sooner and then kind of forgot about it. Really did not like this very much. It was ok but too thin and hot for our tastes. Maybe a pizza wine. Light red color, some berry fruit, high alcohol (14.8), some acid, no tannins or oak, very dry. A little unbalanced and not too complex. Sorry but not sure I buy this zero manipulation idea, give me some manipulation at least! Looking at the specs and varietals and the other review I think the mendo blendo sounds like something I would like better. Anyway this isn’t bad especially for an everyday wine and it is all a good price, with the variety.
Yep, nailed it on the no tannins or oak and dry/light/pizza wine. It’s an everyday sipper type wine, but that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily for everyone. Dusty Carignane and a little funk for sure. Thanks for the honest personal assessment and hopefully if you do pick any up the Mendo is more to your liking!
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: tax and shipping are not included in savings calculations.)
Peterson Tollini Vineyards Mixed Reds $25 = 15.62%
Well let’s see…Reverse Wine Snob had a go at the '21 Barbera and the '20 Zero Manipulation in early March as part of a 3 pack that also had a zin.
Notes on the Barbera:
The 2021 Peterson Winery Tollini Vineyard Barbera begins with just a lovely aroma of ripe dark berry fruits mixed with a little spice, some brambly earthiness, vanilla, toasty oak, black pepper, licorice and more. It’s really enticing, and after a few sniffs you’ll find yourself quite excited to take a sip of this one.
And when you do…whoah! If you’ve been drinking predominantly grocery store wines this Barbera is almost a bit startling. Full of ripe, juicy and tart dark berry fruit with a bit of wonderful earthiness and well-integrated spice notes to offset it, this is delicious. Add in good acidity and a smooth mouthfeel and this is a wonderfully flavorful wine with incredible depth.
It ends dry with more lingering sweet tart fruit on the very long, slightly grippy finish. It was even a bit better on day 2. We put it right at the top of our 9 Taste Rating at 93-points.
We tend to think of Barbera as a pizza wine but this is much heartier than that and will stand up to lots of different foods. This is on par with our very popular Amador Barbera Insider Deals from Scott Harvey and Andis Wines.
Just like the Zero Manipulation, this wine is drinking wonderfully right now but it’s also still a bit young so it will develop even more thanks in part I’m sure to the incredibly long time it spent in oak. And again, it’s crazy to get a wine of this quality for just $13.33 a bottle!
Notes on the Zero Manipulation:
The 2020 Peterson Winery Tollini Vineyard Zero Manipulation Red Blend begins with a really enticing, succulent, harmonious aroma of black cherry and blackberry with plenty of spice, cola and vanilla. This one literally sucks you right into the glass and once you’re there it’s hard to get your nose out of it!
Taking a sip reveals quite a lovely, flavorful blend full of deep, savory black cherry, black raspberry and blackberry. It’s medium-bodied, wonderfully balanced, smooth, lightly spicy and easy to drink. It’s rather elegant really, but still quite quaffable which is not an easy feat to achieve. It also has a bit of tannic grip. A tad on the young side still, it gets better and better as it has more air.
It ends dry, grippy and very, very long and lively with a plenty of spice under the lasting juicy fruit. I love it and it was even a bit better on day 2. And while it’s drinking absolutely wonderfully now, I think it will get even better with a couple more years of bottle age. This is always a favorite!
Barbera, a silver medal 2025 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition.
A dated blurb about Peterson I thought interesting and y’all probably will think it’s dated and not interesting:
Hi Casemates - Jamie checking in here from the currently sunny Dry Creek Valley this Wednesday in May. Here’s a little mid-morning ramble, and I will try and make myself available for questions or comments.
These three wines have been favorites by a lot of folks for different reasons, and they all hail from the same vineyard up in the Redwood Valley of Mendocino County. While they share the same source and general sensibilities of good structure and acidity, they are also different in terms of flavors. When people ask about our favorite, we have to hold back from going into a long winded ramble about how each wine has its own place and personality…
Zero Manipulation is perhaps the lightest bodied, with Carignane and Grenache being more of the red fruits quality and lower natural tannins. No new oak used, or additions other than SO2. We would love for this wine to be a lower alcohol than it is, but Mother Nature has given us some warm years this last decade.
Some vintages could even be considered as a “chillable red,” and is designed to go well with a variety of foods. Using the word designed to describe a wine called Zero Manipulation seems counterintuitive or contradictory… but there we have it. Let’s call it 7% Manipulation.
The Barbera is the middle weight champion, with much juicier, darker fruit quality. Also zero new oak, so the tannins are all from the grape skins, and not very high. The natural acidity is the driving force, with some vintages requiring an addition of potassium right after fermentation to drop a little bit out and make it balanced. Cuts right through richer, fattier foods, but also doesn’t overwhelm lighter options; we’ve served it with either salad course or main meat courses at events.
The Mendo Blendo is our richest of the lineup. Petite Sirah and Syrah dominant, and a percentage of new oak barrels in the aging. We’ve been thrilled with this wine getting double gold medals and 97 range on the points scale at some of the higher regarded competitions the last couple years, and kept the affordable price the same even with demand growing. And an even bigger steal here on Casemates. This wine is great on its own, served in a Riedel Burgundy wine glass or a paper cup alike…
@PetersonWinery thanks for jumping on. I’ve enjoyed a decent amount of your wines from CM over the last few years, and wondering if you can tell me whether or not the 2020 vintage was in any way impacted by the smoke from the fires that hit a lot of other vineyards across the various valleys and counties? Thank you.
The Tollini wines were not affected in 2020, thankfully. No fires were near the vineyards, and any smoke from the August Complex fires up that way was all blowing away. We still tested some lots for the compounds and they all were well under what is considered the smoke taint threshold for detection. My first experience with smoke was on the Tollini wines, in the 2008 vintage. Luckily the character worked with the wine, and we still get people asking if we have any of the “barbecue wines” left for sale.
We did have some smoke influence on wines from the estate and Dry Creek Valley, from the Wallbridge fire in 2020. We didn’t produce Petit Verdot, Cab Franc, or Sangiovese at all, and a couple of the wines that are yet to be released have levels that some people will notice. Whether folks will enjoy it or not remains to be seen.
Barbera is one of my favorite varietals and so I was excited to try this 2021 Peterson Tollini Vineyards offering.
Upon PNP it’s a dark garnet color with good legs. There is some alcohol on the nose, but taste is fruit forward and jammy. It is smooth with slight tannins. The alcohol on the nose is less prevalent in the taste.
We had some nibbles of veggies, blue cheese stuffed olives, and potato chips. It held up well with the snacks.
After 1.5 hours the wine has more pronounced berry flavors. The alcohol comes through more in addition to a peppery note.
The next day, we tasted it with steak and zucchini fajitas. The wine was peppery and less jammy with the meal but it holds up well.
I love a Barbera, and have quite a few bottles of previous offerings of Peterson Tollini vineyards. If I wasn’t so full up on wine and no storage left, it would be an autobuy.
As always, thanks to Alice and Casemates for the rattage opportunity!
nope on the acid addition question: In fact, we added 1.2 g/L of potassium bicarbonate to the Barbera in February of 2022 to remove some acid and raise the pH… crazy and almost scary the acid and sugar levels we can get in these grapes some years during a heat spell. We added some water to the must as well as the sugar was so high.
The old vine Carignane is our latest ripening of the Tollini grapes and always retains great natural acidity and low pH as well. And even the Petite Sirah up there does…
@PetersonWinery super cool. In for a 6pk. A hell of a deal for what yall put in the bottle. Looking at my orders, last one was the library Syrah offering. Cheers guys!
2021 Peterson Barbera, Tollini Vineyard
Tasting Notes
Vintage
Specs
2020 Peterson Zero Manipulation, Tollini Vineyard
Tasting Notes
Vintage
Specs
2022 Peterson Mendo Blendo, Tollini Vineyard
Tasting Notes
Specs
What’s Included
6-bottles:
Case:
Price Comparison
$288.00/Case for 4x 2020 Peterson Zero Manipulation, Tollini Vineyard + 4x 2022 Peterson Mendo Blendo, Tollini Vineyard + 4x 2021 Peterson Barbera, Tollini Vineyard at Peterson Winery
About The Winery
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KY, LA, ME, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, OH, OR, RI, SC, TX, VT, WA, WV, WI, WY
Estimated Delivery
Monday, Jun 9 - Tuesday, Jun 10
Peterson Tollini Vineyards Mixed Reds
6 bottles for $79.99 $13.33/bottle + $1.33/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $134.99 $11.25/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
2021 Peterson Barbera
2020 Peterson Zero Manipulation Red
2022 Peterson Mendo Blendo
2022 Peterson Tollini Vineyard Mendo Blendo
I got the email and UPS notification that I get the chance to Rat again! Since the weather is warming up in my part of the country I put the wine into the fridge for longer than I usually would since I knew the ambient temps would warm it up very quickly. The wine was a deep plum color in a pretty jewel tone when I poured it. On the first sniff I immediately got a lot of fruit, mostly dark berries and currants, a little mustiness (in a good way), and not much else, but that could have been because it was at a lower temperature. I gave it a sip and I still got a surprising amount of fruit, but also some nice creamy notes with a hint of nuttiness. I would say this wine has medium to high tannins, but the amount of fruitiness really mellows it out. I can see someone who maybe is not as into dry wines or trying to build their palette really enjoying this. I had this wine with some Beef Stroganoff and it did a great job of standing up to the rich sauce without overpowering it. It definitely enhanced the flavors of the Dijon mustard in the sauce. I also drank a few glasses the next day without food and the wine was just as good and flavors held true to the tastes on the first day. I enjoyed the wine just as much on its own and I felt it had a great balance that you would really want from a blend. I think this is a good buy and I don’t have room, but I might have to get in on this deal!
2020 Peterson Zero Manipulation
Got a bottle of this around 2 weeks ago and tried it right away. I guess I thought it would be here sooner and then kind of forgot about it. Really did not like this very much. It was ok but too thin and hot for our tastes. Maybe a pizza wine. Light red color, some berry fruit, high alcohol (14.8), some acid, no tannins or oak, very dry. A little unbalanced and not too complex. Sorry but not sure I buy this zero manipulation idea, give me some manipulation at least! Looking at the specs and varietals and the other review I think the mendo blendo sounds like something I would like better. Anyway this isn’t bad especially for an everyday wine and it is all a good price, with the variety.
@ilCesare quote of the day: “give me some manipulation at least”.
@ilCesare
/giphy give me some manipulation at least
@ilCesare
Yep, nailed it on the no tannins or oak and dry/light/pizza wine. It’s an everyday sipper type wine, but that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily for everyone. Dusty Carignane and a little funk for sure. Thanks for the honest personal assessment and hopefully if you do pick any up the Mendo is more to your liking!
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: tax and shipping are not included in savings calculations.)
Peterson Tollini Vineyards Mixed Reds $25 = 15.62%
Well let’s see…Reverse Wine Snob had a go at the '21 Barbera and the '20 Zero Manipulation in early March as part of a 3 pack that also had a zin.
Notes on the Barbera:
The 2021 Peterson Winery Tollini Vineyard Barbera begins with just a lovely aroma of ripe dark berry fruits mixed with a little spice, some brambly earthiness, vanilla, toasty oak, black pepper, licorice and more. It’s really enticing, and after a few sniffs you’ll find yourself quite excited to take a sip of this one.
And when you do…whoah! If you’ve been drinking predominantly grocery store wines this Barbera is almost a bit startling. Full of ripe, juicy and tart dark berry fruit with a bit of wonderful earthiness and well-integrated spice notes to offset it, this is delicious. Add in good acidity and a smooth mouthfeel and this is a wonderfully flavorful wine with incredible depth.
It ends dry with more lingering sweet tart fruit on the very long, slightly grippy finish. It was even a bit better on day 2. We put it right at the top of our 9 Taste Rating at 93-points.
We tend to think of Barbera as a pizza wine but this is much heartier than that and will stand up to lots of different foods. This is on par with our very popular Amador Barbera Insider Deals from Scott Harvey and Andis Wines.
Just like the Zero Manipulation, this wine is drinking wonderfully right now but it’s also still a bit young so it will develop even more thanks in part I’m sure to the incredibly long time it spent in oak. And again, it’s crazy to get a wine of this quality for just $13.33 a bottle!
Notes on the Zero Manipulation:
The 2020 Peterson Winery Tollini Vineyard Zero Manipulation Red Blend begins with a really enticing, succulent, harmonious aroma of black cherry and blackberry with plenty of spice, cola and vanilla. This one literally sucks you right into the glass and once you’re there it’s hard to get your nose out of it!
Taking a sip reveals quite a lovely, flavorful blend full of deep, savory black cherry, black raspberry and blackberry. It’s medium-bodied, wonderfully balanced, smooth, lightly spicy and easy to drink. It’s rather elegant really, but still quite quaffable which is not an easy feat to achieve. It also has a bit of tannic grip. A tad on the young side still, it gets better and better as it has more air.
It ends dry, grippy and very, very long and lively with a plenty of spice under the lasting juicy fruit. I love it and it was even a bit better on day 2. And while it’s drinking absolutely wonderfully now, I think it will get even better with a couple more years of bottle age. This is always a favorite!
Barbera, a silver medal 2025 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition.
A dated blurb about Peterson I thought interesting and y’all probably will think it’s dated and not interesting:
dated blurb here
fwiw
Hi Casemates - Jamie checking in here from the currently sunny Dry Creek Valley this Wednesday in May. Here’s a little mid-morning ramble, and I will try and make myself available for questions or comments.
These three wines have been favorites by a lot of folks for different reasons, and they all hail from the same vineyard up in the Redwood Valley of Mendocino County. While they share the same source and general sensibilities of good structure and acidity, they are also different in terms of flavors. When people ask about our favorite, we have to hold back from going into a long winded ramble about how each wine has its own place and personality…
Zero Manipulation is perhaps the lightest bodied, with Carignane and Grenache being more of the red fruits quality and lower natural tannins. No new oak used, or additions other than SO2. We would love for this wine to be a lower alcohol than it is, but Mother Nature has given us some warm years this last decade.
Some vintages could even be considered as a “chillable red,” and is designed to go well with a variety of foods. Using the word designed to describe a wine called Zero Manipulation seems counterintuitive or contradictory… but there we have it. Let’s call it 7% Manipulation.
The Barbera is the middle weight champion, with much juicier, darker fruit quality. Also zero new oak, so the tannins are all from the grape skins, and not very high. The natural acidity is the driving force, with some vintages requiring an addition of potassium right after fermentation to drop a little bit out and make it balanced. Cuts right through richer, fattier foods, but also doesn’t overwhelm lighter options; we’ve served it with either salad course or main meat courses at events.
The Mendo Blendo is our richest of the lineup. Petite Sirah and Syrah dominant, and a percentage of new oak barrels in the aging. We’ve been thrilled with this wine getting double gold medals and 97 range on the points scale at some of the higher regarded competitions the last couple years, and kept the affordable price the same even with demand growing. And an even bigger steal here on Casemates. This wine is great on its own, served in a Riedel Burgundy wine glass or a paper cup alike…
@PetersonWinery thanks for jumping on. I’ve enjoyed a decent amount of your wines from CM over the last few years, and wondering if you can tell me whether or not the 2020 vintage was in any way impacted by the smoke from the fires that hit a lot of other vineyards across the various valleys and counties? Thank you.
@Leatherchair
The Tollini wines were not affected in 2020, thankfully. No fires were near the vineyards, and any smoke from the August Complex fires up that way was all blowing away. We still tested some lots for the compounds and they all were well under what is considered the smoke taint threshold for detection. My first experience with smoke was on the Tollini wines, in the 2008 vintage. Luckily the character worked with the wine, and we still get people asking if we have any of the “barbecue wines” left for sale.
We did have some smoke influence on wines from the estate and Dry Creek Valley, from the Wallbridge fire in 2020. We didn’t produce Petit Verdot, Cab Franc, or Sangiovese at all, and a couple of the wines that are yet to be released have levels that some people will notice. Whether folks will enjoy it or not remains to be seen.
@PetersonWinery Thank you for the detailed 2020 summary. Makes things pretty easy. Appreciate it again
Barbera is one of my favorite varietals and so I was excited to try this 2021 Peterson Tollini Vineyards offering.
Upon PNP it’s a dark garnet color with good legs. There is some alcohol on the nose, but taste is fruit forward and jammy. It is smooth with slight tannins. The alcohol on the nose is less prevalent in the taste.
We had some nibbles of veggies, blue cheese stuffed olives, and potato chips. It held up well with the snacks.
After 1.5 hours the wine has more pronounced berry flavors. The alcohol comes through more in addition to a peppery note.
The next day, we tasted it with steak and zucchini fajitas. The wine was peppery and less jammy with the meal but it holds up well.
I love a Barbera, and have quite a few bottles of previous offerings of Peterson Tollini vineyards. If I wasn’t so full up on wine and no storage left, it would be an autobuy.
As always, thanks to Alice and Casemates for the rattage opportunity!
Love Peterson wines.
Quick question - not that it really matters but just curious - any acidification? Those pH numbers look super low for the alcohol! My kind of wine.
@pjoeltyler
nope on the acid addition question: In fact, we added 1.2 g/L of potassium bicarbonate to the Barbera in February of 2022 to remove some acid and raise the pH… crazy and almost scary the acid and sugar levels we can get in these grapes some years during a heat spell. We added some water to the must as well as the sugar was so high.
The old vine Carignane is our latest ripening of the Tollini grapes and always retains great natural acidity and low pH as well. And even the Petite Sirah up there does…
@PetersonWinery super cool. In for a 6pk. A hell of a deal for what yall put in the bottle. Looking at my orders, last one was the library Syrah offering. Cheers guys!
@pjoeltyler Thank you! Cheers!
/giphy scarce-fundamental-scene
I tried to hold out. Got no room, shouldn’t be spending the money.
/giphy notable-eligible-camel