Zinfandel Powerhouse | Features | News & Features | Spectator 8/13/13 4:02 PM

Home > Magazine Archives > June 30, 2013 Issue > Features Zinfandel Powerhouse Larry Turley delivers rich, full-bodied reds that reflect his zest for life

James Laube Issue: June 30, 2013

Larry Turley was living in Paris in 2004 when he made a frantic phone call to his winery in Napa Valley. Enjoying an extended holiday in France with his family, Turley was surrounded by the best money could buy—Bordeaux, Burgundy and more —but he couldn't find a drop of his beloved Zinfandel.

"I'm gonna be here for a year," he told his winemaker, "and I need something to drink."

With Zinfandel, it seems, it's all or nothing. Considered the quintessential , Zinfandel is equal parts loved and scorned by wine drinkers, even in the United States. It is indeed a wine with multiple personalities, its character veering wildly over the decades from blush wine to a superripe, Port-style red.

For the past 20 years, the strongest hand at the Zinfandel wheel has been Larry Turley's. Turley Wine Cellars, which released its first wines with the 1993 vintage, View the entire table of contents pioneered a plush, richly fruity style of Zinfandel that helped establish the varietal as for the June 30, 2013 issue a world-class contender. Turley's Zins appear on America's best restaurant wine lists, and the waiting time for a spot on his direct mail list rivals that of many cult See Also producers. Zinfandel's Renaissance The desire for commercial success motivates Turley as much as it does any Napa Zinfandel Stars producer, but he also has a more personal motive. If the old saying "you are what you eat" is also true about wine, then the man behind Turley Wine Cellars is 6 feet 5 A Challenging Year inches of Zinfandel. He's crazy for the stuff, and the Turley Zinfandels are as distinctive and full of gusto as the man himself. California Zinfandel Alphabetical Listing "Zinfandel is just so drinkable," says Turley, 68, from his home adjacent to his St. Helena, Calif., winery. "I just gravitate toward it. I like how it tastes on the vine and in the barrel, if you get it properly ripe like we do. You can drink it young, and it seems to go with all kinds of food. I have it with fish."

Turley Zins show plenty of energy in 2010 and 2011, two challenging vintages in California. The Paso Robles Dusi Vineyard 2011 (95 points on the Wine Spectator 100-point scale, $42) is powerful and focused. The Napa Valley Turley Estate 2011 (94, $38) is rich and full-bodied, yet precise and balanced. The Napa Valley Hayne Vineyard 2010 (91, $75) belongs in the cellar for its backbone of tannins and acidity paired with dense boysenberry, rosemary and licorice flavors. And those are just three of the more than 20 Zinfandels that Turley is now producing.

As it begins its third decade, Turley Wine Cellars is entering a new era. Christina Turley, Larry's oldest daughter, recently joined him in the business, and this spring, Ehren Jordan, Turley's winemaker since 1994, left to focus on his own winery, Failla, handing the lead reins to veteran assistant and vineyard manager Tegan Passalacqua. Stylistically, too, the Zinfandels have evolved in recent vintages, showing more focus and packing less alcohol while retaining the incredible fruit that has made Turley wines so popular with Zin lovers. http://www.winespectator.com/magazine/show/id/48445 Page 1 of 7 Zinfandel Powerhouse | Features | News & Features | Wine Spectator 8/13/13 4:02 PM

"[Larry] has a real love for life," says Frog's Leap Winery owner John Williams of his longtime friend and former partner. "And he's one of the great characters of the wine business."

If Zinfandel is a wine that goes to extremes, it makes sense that Larry Turley produces it. He's not one to overanalyze his wines—he's more fascinated by farming and machines. He used to ride a motorcycle and was known to drive fast. "Usually with the police chasing him," Williams adds. Though Turley's brown hair and beard are giving over to gray, and his native Georgia still lingers leisurely in his words, Turley remains on the move. He keeps a plane at a nearby airport and flies himself just about everywhere.

Maybe his need for speed is a side effect of his former life as an emergency room physician. The career of the average emergency room doctor lasts 11 years, Turley says, and he held the job for 24. "People ask me, ‘Where do they go when they quit?' " Turley says, "and I tell them: ‘Rehab.' There's a huge burnout and substance abuse issue. There's nothing in medical school that prepares you for that kind of intensity."

Then again, there's seemingly nothing in Turley's background that prepared him for a life in wine. He was born in Augusta, Ga., in 1945, to parents who did not drink and considered alcohol a sin.

"It was demon alcohol," Turley says. But when his sister Mary returned from a trip to France with a bottle of St.-Emilion in the 1960s, his mother allowed the family to have a taste. "I was probably a sophomore in high school, and it conjured up all these things like knights in armor," he says.

After high school, Turley briefly studied aerospace engineering before "going into the desert to study philosophy" at St. John's College in New Mexico. Finally, he decided to be a physician; he earned his medical degree from the University of New Mexico in 1973.

While in med school, Turley became interested in food when he was given a Julia Child cookbook by Mary and his other sister, Helen Turley, who went on to be one of California's most influential winemakers. His first recipe was "mustard-crusted leg of lamb," which he made in the dorm kitchen. "It wasn't long before the entire dorm was in the room," Turley recalls. Burgundy was the suggested wine pairing for the dish, but Turley couldn't find any, so he settled for Gallo Hearty Burgundy. "I drank about half the bottle while I was cooking," he says. "I was always interested in wine after that."

After graduation, Turley jumped on his motorcycle and hauled out to San Francisco, where he interned at St. Mary's Hospital near Haight-Ashbury. The "summer of love" had long passed, and the neighborhood had taken a dark turn. Turley learned on his feet. The following year, 1974, he took his first job in an emergency room, at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital in Sonoma County, and within a few months bought a dilapidated 5-acre farm in Napa Valley just north of St. Helena, which remains the home ranch today.

"The day I bought it, I had worked all night and I came home on my motorcycle and there's a tent in my front yard," Turley remembers. "I was a little cranky so I drove through the tent. The occupant was somewhat startled, and I said, ‘What are you doing?' and, to his credit, he said, ‘Well I'm about to have a drink of wine.' And he pulled a bottle from beneath his pillow."

The man in the tent was John Williams. "Actually," Williams recalls, laughing, "Larry knew I was coming but had forgotten all about it."

Williams had become friends with Helen Turley at Cornell University, and she had introduced the two men. Williams was on spring break and had taken a Greyhound bus all the way out from upstate New York.

That summer, Williams moved into the farmhouse with Turley and entered the winemaking program at nearby University of California, Davis. "Larry was always taking in strays. It was kind of my home away from home," Williams says. "There were some monumental parties."

By the summer of 1980, Turley and Williams attempted their first homemade wine together. Turley was in charge of finding the grapes, and Williams says he was expecting to make a few gallons. Turley instead showed up with 3 tons of Zinfandel from a vineyard at Spottswoode Winery. "Larry," Williams says, "doesn't do anything small." In the end, Williams says they were forced to convert a neighbor's old hot tub into a fermentor. But it worked, and the wine was good enough to drink. In http://www.winespectator.com/magazine/show/id/48445 Page 2 of 7 Zinfandel Powerhouse | Features | News & Features | Wine Spectator 8/13/13 4:02 PM

1981, Williams said it was time to start their own winery.

"I [replied], ‘Sure, OK, I'm only working 100 hours a week. I've got the time,' " Turley recalls. Nonetheless, the pair made the first wines of their Frog's Leap label that year, using the facilities at Spring Mountain Winery, where Williams was the winemaker.

Three years later, Frog's Leap was so successful that they moved the winemaking to Turley's home ranch. Turley's tenure as a doctor came in handy. "He seemed the responsible one for the lenders," Williams says. "He had a steady income."

Turley's job demanded most of his attention, but he thrived on it. Williams recalls the stories from the ER and how miserable Turley was when he lost a patient. It was about that time Turley gave up his motorcycle. "I rode all over Europe, the United States, Mexico," he says, "but it took some of the thrill out of it when other emergency room physicians called them ‘donor cycles.' "

That was in 1984, when the demands of Turley's job were joined by a major event in his personal life. He was married to his third wife, Jeannine Yeomans, that year when his first child, Christina, was born. Daughter Nelly followed two years later. For the past 23 years, Turley has been married to Suzanne Chambers, who imports and distributes wines from around the world with her San Francisco-based company Chambers & Chambers. They have two daughters together: Whitney and Savannah.

The winery was in many ways a release for Turley. "I always tried to take a month off during harvest," Turley says, "I worked 20- to 24-hour shifts a lot, so I had to turn in my harvest schedule three months in advance. Sometimes I got the timing right and sometimes I didn't."

For Christina and her three sisters, growing up with a winery just next door was an adventure, playing hide-and-seek in the barrel room and exploring. "I thought everybody's dad got up at three in the morning and went to work for three days," Christina says. " ‘What do you mean you have breakfast with your dad? Is he out of work?' "

It wouldn't be until the late 1990s, after Turley Wine Cellars was well-established, that he retired from emergency room work, although he still maintains his medical license.

By the early 1990s, Turley was ready for a change and a new challenge. By then, Frog's Leap was producing about 35,000 cases annually, but Turley wanted to do something on a smaller, more personal scale.

Williams and Turley parted ways. Turley kept the winery and to make the wines hired his sister Helen, who had begun making her name as a consultant after leaving Peter Michael Winery. Williams would start anew with Frog's Leap, moving the brand to Rutherford. "I won't smooth over the fact that there were some bumps and bruises along the way," Williams says, "but that was inevitable."

What wasn't inevitable, though, was the fact that Turley would become perhaps the most influential force in setting a new style for California Zinfandel.

Turley concentrated on Zinfandel from the beginning. In 1993, his first vintage without Williams, Turley Wine Cellars made three Zinfandels and a Petite Sirah.

The wines all came from single Napa vineyards from which Turley purchased fruit: Hayne, Aida and Moore. They made an immediate splash. Senior editor James Laube called the 1993 Hayne bottling, released at $22, "a truly exciting, beautifully proportioned, rich and vibrant red," and scored it a classic 95 points on the 100-point scale. The wine went on to earn the No. 11 spot in Wine Spectator's Top 100 of 1995.

Although the wines were a hit, Turley no longer makes wine from Aida or Moore. Turley's working relationship with his sister also ended. "Helen fired me the next year [1994]. I don't understand how you fire an owner," he says, smiling. "I was the founding member of the Fired Owners Club. Since then it has become a large group."

His relationship with Helen remains strained to this day, but she set the style of Turley's wines for years to come. She told her brother to treat Zinfandel like Pinot Noir, to thin out green and raisined berries to avoid uneven ripening, and not to be afraid of letting the grapes get ripe. "Helen just sort of opened the door to that style of wine," Turley says, "and we walked through http://www.winespectator.com/magazine/show/id/48445 Page 3 of 7 Zinfandel Powerhouse | Features | News & Features | Wine Spectator 8/13/13 4:02 PM and never looked back."

Ehren Jordan, 27 at the time, took over as winemaker beginning with the 1994 harvest. (He had previously worked in the cellars at Joseph Phelps and Neyers.) Jordan built on the foundation Helen Turley created. The Zins were bold and ripe, but controversial, too; for many vintages the alcohol levels were frequently above 16 percent or even 17 percent, and some critics considered them over the top. Jordan makes no apologies. "Do you like Châteauneuf-du-Pape?" he asks skeptics.

It wasn't long before the success of the Turley Zins created a small army of copycat wines aiming for the same rich style. However, few of them achieved the same level of quality.

Turley attributes his success to his vineyard sources, especially the old-vine plots. Not many vineyards are up to the task of making ripe Zins that are also balanced, Turley believes, adding that it is difficult to get a balance of pH and acidity in young vines when aiming for high levels of ripeness.

Hayne Vineyard in St. Helena is Turley's ideal. Planted in 1903, the head-trained vines are lucky to produce 2 tons an acre. It was Hayne that spawned Turley's fascination with old vineyards. He has used budwood from Hayne to plant his own vineyards on Howell Mountain, including Rattlesnake Ridge and Dragon.

"His passion for the old-vine vineyards comes from 24 years in the ER," Christina says. "He thinks he can resuscitate anything."

Turley laughs at the comment, but it's partly true—not only does he like the way old-vine fruit tastes, he also marvels at how the vines resist droughts and heat waves. "It's really hard to kill an old vine," he says. "You don't have to drop hardly any fruit. They police themselves."

Most of the old Zin vineyards in Northern California vanished years ago, especially those in Napa. "There was so much Zin in Napa before Prohibition," Turley says. "People pulled out vineyards and planted walnuts and prunes, but the old Italians, if they had 15 acres they pulled out 10 and kept the best 5 for themselves." Those were the vineyards that survived, with many of them, ironically, called upon to make sweet, simple white Zinfandel before being rediscovered as a source of great reds in the 1990s.

Checking out an old-vine vineyard to decipher its potential has been one of Turley's favorite things, and he admits his personal enthusiasm for a vineyard was not always matched by Jordan's.

"Most of them were not in good shape," Turley says. "We took over the lease of Dogtown Vineyard in Lodi, and Ehren told me, ‘Oh, it's a horrible spot.' But I said, ‘We can fix it, we can fix it.' "

After building up the soil with compost and restoring the vineyard's nutrients with cover crops, they were able to turn Dogtown around within four or five years. "It's a long, slow process," Turley says. "The stuff you do on the surface takes a long time to percolate down."

In the earliest days, Turley owned only a few acres of his own vines, on the home ranch, and the winery had limited oversight with its other vineyard sources. But that has changed significantly. Turley now owns about 130 acres of vines and strictly controls the farming on another 72 vineyards from which he buys. Most are organic and dry-farmed.

While Zinfandel takes up the bulk of those acres, Turley also produces several single-vineyard Petite Sirahs, a Cinsault from Bechtold Vineyard in Lodi, a white Rhône blend called White Coat and, most recently and of all things, a dry white Zin.

Turley's grape sources have expanded regionally in the past decade. In 2000, he bought the Pesenti vineyard and winery in Paso Robles, where he added an additional 20 acres of Zinfandel to the existing 50 acres planted in the 1920s. In 2012, he acquired Karly winery in Amador County with its 7 acres of vines; he plans to develop another 20 acres there as well.

Now he has three production facilities—his original Napa winery, plus the existing Karly and Pesenti wineries—which allows the team to fine-tune the winemaking in each region. Tegan Passalacqua oversees operations in Napa and Amador, while Karl Wicka, who joined Turley in 2002 after a stint at Wild Horse, handles the winemaking in Paso Robles.

http://www.winespectator.com/magazine/show/id/48445 Page 4 of 7 Zinfandel Powerhouse | Features | News & Features | Wine Spectator 8/13/13 4:02 PM

All of those changes have slowly but significantly taken the Zinfandels to greater heights. But Turley and Jordan also give credit to Passalacqua.

It's a warm spring afternoon on Howell Mountain, a rugged winegrowing region that rises on the eastern edge of Napa Valley. Passalacqua stands on a deck overlooking Rattlesnake Ridge Vineyard as he uncorks four 2011s that will be released this fall: a Zinfandel and a Petite Sirah from Rattlesnake, plus Dragon and Cedarman Zins.

Passalacqua, 35, has an imposing knowledge of grapegrowing and winemaking. He is a third-generation Napan, but his family had only remote ties to the wine industry before he started studying viticulture at Napa Valley College in 2002. Except for interning at Alain Graillot in Crozes-Hermitage and Craggy Range in New Zealand, he has spent most of his brief career at Turley. Today, he oversees 35 different vineyards for Turley as well as 28 separate bottlings.

Passalacqua has focused on improving the vitality of the vineyards, and that has allowed him to pick the grapes earlier. "The problem with Zinfandel is that the grapes will continue to taste better on the vine but that doesn't always translate to better wines," he explains.

"I like to believe that I've been able to focus the wines a little more," says Passalacqua. He has also managed to dial back the percentage of alcohol without sacrificing intensity. The 2011 Zinfandels, which all weigh in around 15.5 percent, are big but focused, with rich flavors that balance acidity and tannins with a plush texture. "They didn't need to be 16.5," he says.

"I think they're more refined," Turley agrees. "It has really been an evolution in the vineyard. By being physiologically riper earlier, you avoid some of those rough edges."

The winemaking regimen has not changed significantly since Jordan's departure, although the wines see less new oak than in the early days. In recent vintages, about 20 percent of the oak is new; 20 percent overall is American oak and the rest is cooperage from Burgundy, not unusual among top Zinfandel producers. During harvest, Turley is happier sorting grapes and driving the tractor or forklift than spearheading winemaking decisions.

"[Larry] doesn't really like to get in our hair," Passalacqua says. "It's really hard to find people in the wine business who are that confident, who don't need to be in control. I haven't seen it very often." Passalacqua and Turley agree that the winemaking needs to be as transparent as possible. "You realize," he adds, "that most of these wines have their stuffing on their own."

By "stuffing," Passalacqua means the vineyards. "When the Howell Mountain fruit arrives at the winery," Turley says, "You can walk by and say, ‘That's Howell Mountain.' It's that pepperiness that you want to get in the bottle."

Rattlesnake Ridge, 2,000 feet above Napa Valley, is a vineyard with a view, and most of the surrounding vineyards are Cabernet Sauvignon. Turley may be the only vintner in Napa who is planting new Zinfandel vineyards. He planted 18 acres of Rattlesnake in 1999, 10 of which are Zinfandel—and 10 acres of Dragon, all Zin, in 2000.

"When Larry commits, he commits. He puts his money were his mouth is," Passalacqua says.

Christina's return to the winery two years ago was a long time in coming, but, like her father, she feels the allure of wine.

"I see the winery as an extension of myself and my family, so it's hard to imagine it not being a part of [my] life," Christina says.

Christina, 28, studied art history at Barnard College and later worked at a gallery in Manhattan. But she soon found her way into food and wine, becoming wine director for star chef David Chang's Momofuku restaurants in New York. Since moving back to California, she has taken over some of Jordan's former duties—he was also the winery's general manager— overseeing sales and marketing.

Turley's other daughters are at different phases in their lives. Nelly, 26, works for the military. Whitney, 20, is interested in farming and is establishing a bee colony on the home ranch. Savannah, 18, is still trying to decide what she wants to do.

Turley's passions don't end with Zinfandel. He owns what he claims is the largest truffle tree plantation in North America.

http://www.winespectator.com/magazine/show/id/48445 Page 5 of 7 Zinfandel Powerhouse | Features | News & Features | Wine Spectator 8/13/13 4:02 PM

Eight years ago he planted about 3,000 hazelnut and oak trees in the limestone-rich soils of Paso Robles. "We don't have any truffles yet," he says, laughing. "So we'll see."

Turley loves food almost as much as he loves wine. There are cookbooks everywhere in the Turley home, and grills, fire pits and smokers are frequently put to use. "[Larry] likes big, bold flavors," Passalacqua says. "He pops habanero peppers like they're popcorn. He's a very adventuresome diner, and it translates well to the wine."

Turley scoffs at the idea that Zinfandel doesn't go with food. "People who haven't even tasted the wines will say, ‘They're high alcohol.' I had a [staff] group from The French Laundry here recently and they said the same thing. I said, ‘I'll tell you what, we'll taste four wines and you pick out the high-alcohol wine,' " Turley says. The group had trouble distinguishing the difference.

Adds Christina, "Zinfandel is the wine that people have the most preconceived notions about. People shun it, and with the young sommelier scene it was not popular at all, but that perception is definitely changing."

Turley is pleased that Zin is getting newfound respect, but his wines are such a personal statement that he could only continue to follow his muse regardless. It's not that he drinks Zinfandel exclusively—Suzanne makes sure their cellar is stocked with some of the best wine from around the world. But he has his preferences.

Jordan recalls dinner parties at which Turley would let him loose in the home cellar, knowing that he would pick out a prized Burgundy or other exotic gem. But before Jordan descended the stairs to the cellar, there was always one caveat from Turley: "Get a Zinfandel for me." TURLEY WINE CELLARS

Founded: 1993 Case production in 2011: 20,000 Wines produced in 2011: 21 Zinfandel bottlings, four Petite Sirahs, a Cinsault, a white Zinfandel and a white Rhône blend Vineyard acreage: 130 acres owned; long-term contracts on 72 additional acres Production facility locations: Napa Valley; Paso Robles; Amador County RECENT ZINFANDEL RELEASES FROM TURLEY

Score Wine Price 95 Zinfandel Paso Robles Dusi Vineyard 2011 $42 94 Zinfandel Howell Mountain Rattlesnake Ridge 2011 $40 94 Zinfandel Napa Valley Turley Estate 2011 $38 93 Zinfandel Howell Mountain Dragon Vineyard 2011 $45 93 Zinfandel Paso Robles Pesenti Vineyard 2010 $35 92 Zinfandel Howell Mountain Cedarman 2010 $29 91 Zinfandel Alexander Valley Vineyard 101 2011 $42 91 Zinfandel California Juvenile 2011 $20 91 Zinfandel Napa Valley Hayne Vineyard 2010 $75 90 Zinfandel Contra Costa County Duarte 2011 $32 90 Zinfandel Paso Robles Ueberroth Vineyard 2010 $48 89 Zinfandel Contra Costa County Salvador Vineyard 2010 $38 89 Zinfandel Napa Valley Tofanelli Vineyard 2010 $34 88 Zinfandel Dry Creek Valley Grist Vineyard 2011 $40 88 Zinfandel Lodi Dogtown Vineyard 2010 $38 88 Zinfandel Napa Valley Heminway Vineyard 2010 $30 88 Zinfandel Sonoma Valley Fredericks Vineyard 2010 $42

http://www.winespectator.com/magazine/show/id/48445 Page 6 of 7 Zinfandel Powerhouse | Features | News & Features | Wine Spectator 8/13/13 4:02 PM

http://www.winespectator.com/magazine/show/id/48445 Page 7 of 7