It was a pleasure to listen to Rod Berglund of Joseph Swan talk about his wines and hard to disagree with anything he said. He believes in individual wines that express their terroir, in elegance over size and in very moderate new oak use, particularly for his Zinfandels. He takes great pleasure in the character of his vineyards (most of which have very old vines), talking about the curious Chardonnay in Wolfspierre that producers quite Viognier-like fruit and the amazing 120 year-old vines on Laguna Ridge that produce fruit suggestive of Turkey-stuffing. Sadly these last have now gone, having got too old to produce any wine at all. Of the other Zinfandel vineyards I particularly liked the Ziegler that was perhaps a bit more mineral than the others. Most of the wines from this estate are interesting, individual, stylish and considering the quality reasonably priced.

---