Made from old vine Zinfandel planted in Rancho Cucamonga's Jose Lopez Vineyard. The entire vineyard is CCOF organic planted in 1918 and currently farmed and cared for by the Galleanos.  Carol Shelton, iconic winemaker and the queen of Zinfandels has selected this historic site to make her "Monga" Zin. These vines are on it's own roots going down 50 feet to get water and they struggle in the near desert-like condition with rocky sandy soil. The result is extreme concentration thru very small yields. 

Carol Shelton specializes in making Zinfandel. With a degree in Enology from UC Davis, she worked her first harvest in 1978 and has never looked back. Early in her career, Carol experienced some of the resistance that many of this pioneering class of women winemakers were encountering. In her own words: “women weren’t allowed to work in the cellar. We weren’t considered strong enough, but I think many of us proved this conception to be dead wrong: by hauling hoses, pushing around pumps, shoveling out a tank full of grapes – and yes it’s hard physical labor, but women can do it.” Despite this all too common prejudice of the time, she did have the great fortune to work with legendary winemakers André Tchelistcheff at Buena Vista and Peter Lehmann at Saltram in Australia. Her time making wine with these wine icons would be invaluable as she forged a career as a winemaker in Sonoma County.

Wine Notes