Instead of releasing this wine as Carignane (or Carignan as they spell it in France) Fred Peterson has chosen to market this variety under a proprietary name: Zero Manipulation. This wine is made from 77% Mendocino County Carignane, 12% Sonoma County Zinfandel and 11% Sonoma County Mourvedre. The name comes from the winemaking philosophy of letting the grapes and terrior speak from themselves with a bit of help from some oak trees. The cynical might think this wine is just a blend of wines left over after the final blends of their more expensive wines but I think Fred and winemaker Jamie Peterson put this together with as much care as they do any of their wines. Thank goodness I can buy this locally (Surdyk’s) as this is now my new house red (but I’ll still pull out Tres Picos from time to time 🙂 Love the shameless swag promotion on the back label, too (gotta get one of those t-shirts).
Peterson Winery, “Zero Manipulation”, Red 2004 ($12) – Purple in color with aromas of blackberry, cedar and spice. Bold and rich in the mouth with boysenberry and blackberry fruit flavors together with black pepper, vanilla and sweet tannins. A fairly long finish for this price point with good acidity for food. Enjoy with Mexican food or a grilled steak. 450 cases produced.
14.6% ABV
Synthetic cork closure (easily removed)
Score: 88
I am looking to purchase this wine for our restaurant. Who is the distributor in the Chicagoland area?
Jamie,
From the winery website it looks like Haus Wines & Spirits in Chicago is their distributor in Illinois: http://www.petersonwinery.com/distributors.html