Trying to choose just one winery to visit in Napa Valley is a torturous exercise, like buying a single scoop from an ice cream shop with dozens of bins. Whatever you pick, it’s sure to be good. But choosing Pistachio means passing up Boysenberry and Black Walnut and Lavender Honey–there’s only so much flavor you can savor in one day.
If there’s Rum Raisin behind the counter, though, the choice is easier: I am having that. And if there’s Zinfandel nearby–Zinfandel, with its over-the-top mix of jammy fruit, big alcohol, and tantalizing spices–that’s another flavor that’s hard to resist.
Robert Biale Vineyards does not make that kind of old-school Cali Zin…or not only that kind of Zin, as we shall soon see. But they are known in the Valley as champions (prophets, even) of the Zinfandel variety. Biale’s founders had the foresight to retain these knobby old vines in the decades when other wineries were pulling them up.
I’m almost an hour early for my tasting appointment, having checked out cautiously early from the Best Western motel south of Napa city. But I’m greeted warmly and ushered to a high-top table overlooking an Eden-like valley view. Atlas Peak looms on the horizon, songbirds chatter, and clusters of mustard flowers stretch beneath the vines like a bright yellow carpet.
I’ve opted for the Valley Vista Tasting Experience ($50). After a welcome pour of a zingy 2025 Rosato (from Sangiovese and Zinfandel), I move on to the intense-but-balanced Zinfandels that are the winery’s signature.
First up is Biale’s flagship wine, the Black Chicken Zinfandel. Back home in Cabernet-loving Texas, Black Chicken tends to show up on wine lists in the “Interesting Reds” sub-section. I often recommend it to Napa Cab drinkers as an intro to the pleasures of artisanal Zin.
The 2023 Black Chicken is rich-tasting, but nothing like the pudding-like Zins of my college days. Its dark, raisined cherries and wild berries are freshened up by a moderate body and sophisticated aromas of orange zest and Indian sandalwood. It’s young–and a light alcohol burn intensifies its varietal spice–but the sensation of heat is smoothed over by vanilla and toasted caramel from 25-30% new French oak.
Seven different fruit sources go into each year’s Black Chicken, I learn. They’re vinified separately, then blended. Biale also practices the Italian-American tradition of adding in other, deeper-colored heritage varieties to bolster the thin-skinned Zinfandel. In many bottlings, a small percentage of Petite Sirah enhances the blend’s length and body. The result is an ideally calibrated wine that asserts itself without needing to be the loudest bottle in the room.
“I imagine you’ve heard some version of the chicken story?” the host ventures as he pours the next taste. I have, but it’s one of the best stories in wine.
So I fold my hands in my lap and listen to a brief retelling of Biale’s founding legend: How winemaker Aldo Biale illegally sold gallon jugs of homemade Zin with his neighborhood farm-store orders, under the code name “black chicken.”
There actually are black chickens on the estate now, corralled in a shady pen near the patio. This gaggle of glossy hens is destined not for the grocery wagon, but for tourists’ photos. They titter and tut like prohibitionists as I settle in for several more pours of 15% ABV wine at just after 11 in the morning.
Biale sources fruit from all over Sonoma and Napa, including from some of the regions’ most historic vineyards. After the Black Chicken, I taste four of Biale’s single-vineyard Zins from the 2023 vintage: The Varozza and Old Kraft (from St. Helena), the Bedrock (from Sonoma County), and the Heminway (from Green & Red Vineyard, on the eastern edge of Napa County).
As a rule, Biale’s single-vineyard Zinfandels are sourced from exceptionally old vines. The Heminway vineyard is the baby at 57. Varozza is barely past toddlerhood at 81. Sonoma’s venerable Bedrock is an original 1850 vineyard that was replanted in the 1880s, just after the phylloxera epidemic passed through California.
There’s a lovely, sheer quality to each of these Zinfandels. They’re rarely more than medium in body, and in the space between the fruit and the quite-sturdy alcohol, you find surprising flavors. Flavors that make you say, “Oh, I’m so glad Zin can also taste like that!”
Cranberry sauce, tamarind paste, cherry skins, amber, iron, fig jam, sage, purple flowers. Tying them all together is a lilting orange-citrus thread: Here a twist of cocktail orange, there creamsicle, here a juicy tangerine, there a hint of citrus marmalade.
Biale is often described as a “modern” style of Zinfandel–less dense and less sweet than the fruitcake-y Zins of the 1990s. This Zinfandel’s power comes not from heavy extraction, but from a terroir-focused approach that allows the grace (and yes, subtlety) of the variety to emerge.
But if that restrained approach to Zinfandel has you craving a wine that you can’t see through, then never fear. There’s some delicious Petite Sirah on offer for bolder tastes. The parade of Zins is followed by two expressions of Petite Sirah, the 2023 Royal Punishers and the brandy-fortified 2021 Petite Sirah Dessert Wine.
My glass of Royal Punishers comes with a side of tasting-room trivia. Did you know that “Royal Punishers” is an anagram of the two parents of Petite Sirah? (That would be Syrah and the rare variety Peloursin.) I didn’t–but I will most certainly be busting out that tidbit the next time I’m pouring a glass of this plummy, full-bodied wine.
Under the encircling view of the Vaca Mountains (and just past the disapproving clucks of hens), I try one last glass: The Port-like dessert wine from 100% Petite Sirah. Tasting of black plums, spiced berries, and dried fig–and served with a nibble of chocolate–it was the perfect ending to a truly indulgent morning.
Napa Valley is best known for its moneymaker grape, the prestigious and tannic Cabernet Sauvignon. But the next time you’re passing through, won’t you spare an hour or two for Zinfandel?
Altitude, vineyard age, and measured winemaking show the beauty of this grand old variety, which is too often dismissed as a juice-box wine for baby palates. Robert Biale’s best wines marry nuance and strength, and their Back Porch lounge is a picture-perfect spot in which to discover them.
What: Valley Vista Tasting Experience at Robert Biale Vineyards
How much: One hour, four wines, $50, reservations required. (Complimentary for Black Chicken Society Members and up to 3 guests, once per quarter.)
Where: 4038 Big Ranch Road, Napa, CA 94558
Wines tasted (prices are non-member retail):
Robert Biale Rosato (2025) – California – $42
Robert Biale “Black Chicken” Zinfandel (2023) – Napa Valley, California – $55
Robert Biale “Varozza Vineyard” Zinfandel (2023) – St. Helena, Napa Valley, California – $64
Robert Biale “Old Kraft Vineyard” Zinfandel (2023) – St. Helena, Napa Valley, California – $62
Robert Biale “Heminway Vineyard” Zinfandel (2023) – Napa Valley, California – $62
Robert Biale “Bedrock Vineyard” Zinfandel (2023) – Sonoma County, California – $68
Robert Biale “Royal Punishers” Petite Sirah (2023) – Napa Valley, California – $55
Robert Biale Petite Sirah Dessert Wine (2021) – Napa Valley, California – $55
Review disclosure: I was not compensated or provided any free products for this post. (I accepted an industry comp of my tasting fee, but it did not affect my review.) Opinions expressed on The Wine Fairy blog are entirely my own.
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