ZD Wines

ZD Wines was founded in 1969 as Zepponi and deLeuze Winery by two engineers, Norman deLeuze and Gino Zepponi and their wives, Rosa Lee deLeuze and Barbara Zepponi. All four founders have since passed. The wines have been bottled as ZD Wines since their inaugural vintage. The winery is still family owned and operated with co-founder Norm deLeuze and his wife Rosa Lee’s children and grandchildren now involved.

Gino’s contributions to the wine industry were significant. He owned Winery Systems a consulting and winery equipment provider and was also a consultant for several wineries and worked at Domaine Chandon where he developed and introduced a custom made gyropalette to automate the riddling of the sparkling wines. His namesake restaurant, Gino’s on the plaza in Sonoma was operated by family for 1973-1976 and then later operated under different ownership. He was involved in wine trade organizations in both Sonoma County and Napa Valley and also was a guest lecturer at the University of California Davis.

We have observed numerous instances where someone changes from a non-winemaking career to one in the wine industry where their decision directly affects their children’s career choices. Several of Gino’s children work in the wine industry including Dan Zepponi who is President and CEO of Cuvaison Estates, which is incidentally located less than a mile from diRosa, the source of ZD’s first wines and was also founded in 1969, the same year as ZD.

Tragically Gino died in 1985 at age 53 from a car accident while pulling off on the shoulder and then making a U-turn, while on a business trip in Lodi; he was still co-owner of ZD Wines at the time of his death. Following his passing the deLeuzes’s purchased his shares in the company. Norm died in 2007 and Rosa Lee, who we met briefly, at their Carneros property died in 2018. Z and D, are the initials of the co-founders last names but perhaps more meaningful is the reference to the term zero defects – used in engineering and meaning without flaws.

Scholarships in honor of each of the founders have been awarded at UC Davis including the Gino Zepponi Scholarship and much more recently the deLeuze Family Professorship for a Non-Toxic Cure for Lymphoma.

Both men met in the late 1950s while working for AeroJet-General in Sacramento (now AeroJet Rocketdyne) – in our experience with aerospace companies, this seems like an unlikely location for an aerospace company, with most located in Southern California. Norm deLeuze was an aeronautical engineer designing rockets for the company. ZD received their first application for bond and label approval in Sonoma County; this is one of the rare Napa Valley wineries who started in Sonoma County. They were turned down for a loan of $6000 to start a winery by a bank (apparently, winemaking was too risky of a proposition in the eyes of that particular bank), so they borrowed the money from a friend instead. They rented farm buildings off of Burnside Road from one of Gino’s relatives on the Sonoma side of Carneros (a short drive from the town of Sonoma) and made their first 10 vintages here. Gino’s parents used to make their own home wine in Sonoma; his mother Mary owned 5 acres of vines in the area for many years.

According to an article in The Press Democrat dated October 1, 1972, the original winery was housed in a 60′ x 30′ building with a 40′ x 30′ foot chilled cellar. They crushed 6 tons of both White Riesling and Pinot Noir for their inaugural 1969 vintage using old home wine making equipment, including a hand-operated press from Gino’s father. In 1970 they added some Gewürztraminer; all their wines at the time were 100% varietal. In these early years, ZD Wines did not own any vineyards but they already had their ‘foot in the door’ in Napa Valley. They were sourcing all their grapes from the Winery Lake Vineyard owned by Rene diRosa on the Napa side of Carneros, today home of the diRosa, a collection of contemporary art. The children of both founders also helped out in these early years.

In 1971 they crushed a small amount of Flora. This is one of Napa Valley’s most unique and rare plantings. White Flora is a cross between Sémillon and Gewürztraminer and was created in 1938 by well-liked and prominent grape-breeder, geneticist and UC Davis Professor, Dr. Harold Olmo. This was one of a number of new varieties that he created over a long career. A Red Flora also exists, having been created by a cross in the 1850s. Currently, the Hoxsey family, the owners of Napa Wine Co., have 3 acres of White Flora planted in their Blockhouse Vineyard – the only known vineyard of this kind to currently exist in California.

Visits in those days could take some time to arrange. A mention in a Press Democrat article from the early 1970s listed their PO Box in Sonoma where it was suggested interested parties could write to secure an appointment.

In 1975 ZD, along with 6 other wineries including Hanzell Vineyards and Chateau St. Jean, ZD Wines was one of the founding members of the Sonoma Valley Vintner’s Association. This association merged with the Sonoma Valley Grape Growers Association in 1992 to create a new organization called The Alliance.

In these early days both deLeuze and Zepponi had full time jobs and were only able to spend time making wine on the weekends and other days off. Norm was living in Santa Rosa then and Gino in Sacramento. They met in the ‘middle’ at their winery near Sonoma. They were the first winery to put Carneros on a wine label, beginning with their inaugural vintage of Pinot Noir in 1969. Carneros wasn’t an officially recognized sub appellation until 1983, the second such sub appellation in Napa Valley following the creation of Howell Mountain, also that same year. Both families moved their winery operations to their present Rutherford location in Napa Valley in 1979/1980. This winery was designed by architect David Bell (died in 2020).

Norman was the winemaker for ZD Wines until 1983 when his son Robert took over duties. Today Norman’s grandson, Brandon is their winemaker.

Over the decades their grape sources have diversified greatly and are now from numerous locations within Napa Valley including their two estate properties, the vineyard surrounding the winery and hospitality center in Rutherford and also on the Napa side of Carneros. Their Rutherford estate is planted to about 3.2 acres of three clones of Cabernet Sauvignon (7, 15 and 337); the grapes from these vines form the majority of their ZD Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. And both of their estate vineyards have been farmed orgnaicaslly since they were planted under their ownership. They received their CCOF organic certification in 1999. Their two vineyards are also certified Fish Friendly Farming, Napa Green Winery and California Certified Sustainable Winegrowing.

Their 34-acre Carneros property is planted to 23 acres of Chardonnay and 6 acres of Pinot Noir. The deLeuzes have owned the Carneros property since 1996, however they were sourcing grapes for a Chardonnay from Carneros 9 years prior to acquiring their own vineyard. And ZD Wines only works with growers who are certified organic farmers. The winery is 100% powered by solar energy.

While not open to the public, their Carneros property features a modern “barn” housing various farming equipment, a historic house dating from 1897 and great views overlooking the gentle rolling Carneros vineyards from both the house and the barn. Once a year the property is open for a few hours for their annual Napa Valley Summer Wine Celebration, a food and wine charity event benefiting the Boys & Girls Clubs of Napa Valley’s Teen Center.

Hospitality
The hospitality center underwent a major renovation in 2018/2019 – with a focus being on more intimate sit down tastings rather than seeing visitors at a wine bar (like their old setup). Tastings are either by walk-in or reservation. One of the highlights of the hospitality center is the Vineyard View Room & Deck – a contemporary indoor space for seating tastings along with an outdoor wrap around deck offering visitors gorgeous panoramic vistas overlooking Napa Valley. A lounge for private tastings is located adjacent to the reception downstairs.

And the Chardonnay grapevine hanging against the wall near the reception was originally planted in 1982 in their Carneros property – uprooted in its entirety in 2019, this vine clearly shows the great length of mature grapevine roots.

Several tasting experiences are offered including the popular Vineyard View Tasting (especially for walk-in visitors), focusing on a flight of current release wines. Additional more in-depth tastings are offered by appointment including The ZD Experience (a private tour and tasting of library or reserve wines) and The Abacus Experience, a private tour and tasting of their most premium wines including the multi-vintage and their flagship wine, the Abacus.

During a number of visits over the years, we have found the ZD hosts to be very hospitable and extremely knowledgeable about not only ZD Wines but also other area wineries and restaurants. Rather than simply pouring the wines, offering canned verbiage and then walking away, they spend quality time with guests. This is something we always highly value in a tasting.

Select Wines
The focus of their winemaking is on Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon. The majority of their wines come from both of their estate vineyard properties but they also source grapes from other growers including several from outside of Napa Valley. Unlike most Napa Valley wineries that commonly use French oak, ZD Wines has long embraced the use of American oak; with that said they also use a limited amount of French oak.

Whites
The 2022 ZD Wines Chardonnay, California was sourced from cooler coastal vineyard sites including Napa and Sonoma Carneros, Monterey, and Santa Barbara; this wine spent 10 months aging in 100% American oak barrels before being bottled. It is deep gold in color; honeyed and sweetly fruited, the bouquet offers aromas of honeycomb, ripe pineapple, mango, peaches in light syrup, ripe banana when its skin becomes mottled and hot corn cob being rolled in melting butter. Generous, this bottling shows plenty of California sunshine both on the bouquet and the palate but without a heavy hand of oak. It offers flavors of peach, apricot, nectarine, and pineapple accompanied by some caramelized sugars (creme Brule), vanilla and tapioca pudding. The persistent finish is filled with a richness of flavor paralleled by a balanced and bright acidity. We thought perhaps the alcohol is higher, based on its intensity of flavor, which is perhaps not always the best indicator, but refreshingly it is only 13.5%.

The 2017 ZD Wines Napa Valley Reserve Chardonnay was barrel fermented and spent 15 months in American oak of which 50% was new. This wine was not put through malolactic fermentation. The bouquet offers a sweetness of aromatics including apricot, honeycomb, honeysuckle, mango and papaya with underlying scents of vanilla. Shows flavors of golden delicious apple, various baking spices and vanilla. It features a lovely texture which is supple and slightly creamy across the palate; this is complemented nicely by bright acidity. Intensely flavored with a rich finish. It is refreshing to discover a more unique style of Chardonnay with the American oak offering texture but not dominating flavors and with the prevention of secondary fermentation, there is still plenty of acidity to go around.

Reds
The 2022 ZD Wines Pinot Noir, Carneros is pale ruby in color; lightly brooding and earthy, the bouquet offers aromas of damp earth, dried mushroom, white pepper, dried cherry, blood orange, clove and root beer. Balanced with plenty of flavor, the palate offers notes of red licorice, raspberry, strawberry and pomegranate. Several accompanying layers of spice include cardamom and bay leaf along with black tea. The tannins sport a subtle presence, lightly kissing the palate on a flavor filled and extended finish. The grapes for this wine were from ZD’s own vineyard in Carneros as well as several other vineyards in this district. The grapes were destemmed with 30% fermented whole cluster. This wine was aged for 10 months in 100% French oak barrels prior to bottling.

The 2018 ZD Wines Napa Valley Pinot Noir was sourced from several Pinot Noir vineyards in Carneros including from their estate. This bottling spent 10 months in all French oak. The bouquet immediately offers spice notes including white pepper, complemented by cherry cola and dried rose petal along with a more subtle bouquet sweetness (mocha). Lively acidity with savory characteristics persist across the palate. Shows flavors of red cherry, red currant and cooked rhubarb and lingers with a tartness of fruit and tobacco spice. The tannins are supple.

The 2022 ZD Wines Rosa Lee Petit Verdot, Napa Valley is a unique blend of 76% Petit Verdot, 12% Malbec and 12% Zinfandel. Each variety is harvested and fermented separate from one another, with the Zinfandel and Malbec being harvested in September while the Petit Verdot was harvested about a month later. Quick to age (5 months in barrel) it was bottled a little over a year post harvest. This wine is deep ruby; sweetly fruited it offers aromas of blackberry, boysenberry, dark mulberry, mocha, espresso, milk chocolate and a light nuance of toasted oak. If you want to say it smells like dessert, we will not argue with you. Brimming with flavor and showcasing both its fruit attributes and oak aging, it offers notes of dark cherry, blackberry, dark plum, dark chocolate and toasted cedar. The rounded and polished tannins linger gently. This bottling is only sold at the winery.

Tempranillo is a variety is not often found in Napa Valley; ZD Wines was planning on producing a Tempranillo from Lake County located to the north of Napa County when they received a call from Tony Truchard of Truchard Vineyards in Napa’s Carneros region. He said he had some Tempranillo had come available and they could purchase it if still interested, so they did.

The 2018 ZD Wines Rosa Lee Tempranillo offers ripe fruit aromatics including cherry along with dried rose petal. As the wine breathes the bouquet becomes more savory. Lively acidity dances across the palate; it is juicy with flavors of blackberry. The front and mid palate are supple with still tightly woven tannins on the finish. Lingers with a dry dust nuance and darker spices. Great food wine; we enjoyed ours with a plate of freshly made paella brought to us from their kitchen.

The 2016 ZD Wines Rutherford Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon was aged for 3 years in American oak of which 30% was new – the majority of this wine is from their own vineyard with other lots coming from select vineyard sites, also in Napa Valley. The bouquet is immediately appealing with both dessert spices (mocha) and a generous helping of fruit including ripe boysenberry and blackberry. It is very well balanced and savory with bright acidity and fruit flavors of red cherry and raspberry accompanied by toasted oak. The friendly tannins are finely dispersed and are layered but not at all aggressive in their feel. This is an approachable offering.

Over the years, ZD wines have been served at several Presidential State dinners.

ZD Wines celebrated their 50th anniversary in 2018 and to commemorate this occasion they produced a 50th Anniversary Cuvée, (a Blanc de Noir) made from a majority of Pinot Noir but also with Chardonnay – both from their Carneros estate. Every single bottle was hand riddled in traditional slightly leaning wooden racks. And this was released about a year after they produced their first sparkling wine, a Blanc de Blanc; to date, these have been the only two sparkling wines they have ever produced.

Abacus is one of the most unique Cabernet Sauvignon wines in all of Napa Valley; it is a multi-vintage wine – very few producers in the valley make a multi-vintage wine. The first release was in 1999; subsequent releases always increase by one year, solera style so each new release contains Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon wine from every year dating back to the first vintage of 1992. Wines from each vintage that are not bottled remain in barrel. The youngest vintage included in any Abacus spends at least 3 years in barrel.

And in 2017 the winery created the Abacus Presentation – a impressive looking pyramid of all their Abacus wines in barrel (American oak puncheon, back-lit by lights with the barrels resting on custom made metal racks).

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The family also runs the deLeuze Family Charitable Foundation and over the years have generously supported a variety of causes including supporting a non-toxic cure for lymphoma, other cancer research and the Boys and Girls Club of the Napa Valley. One of their primary avenues of fundraising is through the annual Crush Challenge, hosted by ZD Winery featuring wine tastings, a bike ride and a wine dinner.

Guests driving along the Silverado Trail should look for the ZD Winery sign with its raised gold lettering fastened to a large rock next to their short steep driveway leading down to the parking lot. Thew winery is only about a 10-minute drive from the town of St. Helena. An electric vehicle charging station is located on site. Total production each year is around 30,000 cases with the majority of that their California Chardonnay.

For more information, to purchase wines, to schedule a visit and or to join their wine club called First Taste, visit www.zdwines.com

Rutherford Winery

Carneros Estate

Original Sonoma Carneros location