For the next two days you can get this ridiculously tasty, 91-93 point, Highly Recommended Zin that spends 20 months in oak barrels for just $XX a bottle. The Peterson Tollini Old School Zin is back and better than ever!
Best-seller, reader favorite and Insider Deal All-Star Peterson Winery is back! And they’ve brought with them the new vintage of this excellent wine from QPR Central, aka the Tollini Vineyard in the Redwood Valley of Mendocino.
Our previous Peterson Tollini offers on the Barbera, Zero Manipulation Red and this very wine, the Old School Zin, have been some of the most popular on the site and have even been featured in our All-Star Intro Packs.
Today Peterson returns with the latest vintage of their Old School Zin which contains 85% Zinfandel, 10% Petite Sirah and 5% Carignane. The wine spends 20 months in barrel comprised of 20% 2-year-old Hungarian oak barrels and 80% 4-10 year-old neutral oak barrels. Just 370 cases were produced.
Unfined and unfiltered, the Peterson Tollini Old School Zin is produced using the winery’s “Zero Manipulation” philosophy:
Zero Manipulation is a combination of intention as well as practice. Each year is slightly different, and our goal is to express that variation (while still making a wine that tastes good), and not having a preconceived notion of the wine being exactly the same each year. We don’t add enzymes, tannins, acid, etc., and don’t fine or filter these wines (or treat with velcorin, or lysozyme, or gum arabic, or or or…). SO2 is used after fermentation and at bottling though with switching to screw caps and lower oxygen pickup, we can get away with less.
The less you do in the course of a wine’s tenure in the cellar, the more of the grape’s, vineyard’s, and vintage’s essence you’ll have to bottle. Every time you do something to a wine, you take out a little of what you started with.
And like all the Tollini Vineyard wines, the Peterson Tollini Old School Zin has an extremely reasonable SRP of just $24 a bottle. Of course, today’s Insider Deal gets it to you for even less…
For the next two days you can get 4 bottles of the 2020 Peterson Tollini Old School Zin for just $XX.95 ($XX.XX/bottle).
Shipping and Ordering Info
This 4-pack deal is available to ship to the following states: AZ, CA, CO, DC, FL, GA, IA, ID, IL, IN, KY, LA, MA, ME, MN, MO, MT, NC, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OR, RI, SC, TX, VT, WA, WV, WI and WY. (These states are dependent on the individual licenses of the offering winery and are not representative of all our deals. Every deal can have different, sometimes more, sometimes less, states available.)
Shipping is a flat $7.99 per order, no matter how many packs you buy. Orders will ship via UPS Ground 5-10 days after the deal ends. If this is your first time ordering please check out the shipping section of our FAQ for more information.
For your convenience you also have the option to select a UPS Store/Access Point to ship to at checkout (with no extra fees) so you don’t have to be home to sign!
Read on for our full review.
Clicking on the Add To Cart button above will take you to our checkout at shop.reversewinesnob.com. Once there you can adjust the quantity of 4-packs in your order. Ends Sunday 4/12/2026 at midnight (PT).
From the winery:
2020 Peterson Tollini Old School Zin
Taking it back to when Zin was easy drinking and no thinking! Dry farmed, head trained, gnarly zinfandel vines farmed by the Tollini family that were planted in the 1970’s in the heart of Mendocino are no bull! Easy tannins and bright natural acidity carry the layers of juicy fruit and zesty spice. Whether having a dinner party, barbecuing, relaxing after work, or on a weekend getaway, there’s never a wrong time to make it old school.
Jamie Peterson’s Vintaged View: Old School is sometimes described as our “Easy Drinking, No Thinking” Zin, but don’t let that make you think it’s any less serious of a wine than our other bottlings.
After nearly ten years putting together a value priced Zin blend from various Sonoma County grapes, our friend and grower in Mendocino, Alvin Tollini, let us know he had a mature Zinfandel vineyard coming available, and would we be interested in the fruit. We took the opportunity to create a new wine in our line of Tollini Vineyard offerings that would showcase what juicy Zin grapes from the hills of Mendocino’s Redwood Valley could produce.
Old School has a style that is full of flavor and character, but not over the top. We want a wine that is refreshing and “highly drinkable” and satisfying. The type of Zin you can either open on a weeknight or take to a party without hesitation. One you can think about and savor…but you really don’t have to.
By blending in 10% Petite Sirah and 5% Carignane, we complement the fruit and jam of the Zin with structure, balance and spice, without overwhelming the singular terroir of this special place.
Tasting Notes: An aromatic beam of vine-ripened black raspberry sprinkled with fresh black pepper dances around the glass. The smooth entry soon exposes a peppery spiceladen mid-palate surrounding flavors of blackberry, raspberry, Queen Anne cherry and pomegranate. Traces of oak appear in the dark berry and spice-laced long finish. When first opened, give this wine some time to breathe and share the depth of its flavors. It can also just be quickly sipped as a delicious nothinkin’ Zin. Your choice.
Such an easy sipping Zinfandel pairs with almost anything, but it particularly shines with spicy baked ziti with Italian sausage and a side of garlic French bread, or lamb kababs with curried sweet potatoes and tzatziki.
Varietal Breakdown: 85% Zinfandel harvested Sept. 14, 10% Petite Sirah harvested Sept. 22, 5% Carignane harvested Oct. 1
Vineyard: 100% Tollini Vineyard
Appellation: Redwood Valley, Mendocino
pH: 3.35
TA: 0.72g/100ml
Barrel Aging: 20 months
Cooperage: 20% 2-year-old Hungarian oak barrels, 80% 4-10 year-old neutral oak barrels
Bottling Date: June 28, 2022 (unfined & unfiltered)
Production: 370 cases | 750ml, 50 cases | 3L bag-in-box, 10 kegs | 20L
Release Date: May 2025
15.2% Alcohol
Closure Type: Screwcap – Janson capsules – Saranex liner
And now on to our review:
The 2020 Peterson Tollini Old School Zinfandel opens powerfully with plenty of brambly and almost raisin-y fruit aromas. Black pepper, spice, licorice and vanilla round things out on the very aromatic and attractive nose.
Hello! Wow, this is a unique, savory and flavorful Zin that wakes your taste buds right up. Harmonious and balanced, it features an explosion of deep, savory flavors like black cherry, lots of cola notes, loads of licorice plus some black pepper and touches of spice and vanilla that are all wrapped up in a smooth mouthfeel. This is a great example of Zinfandel!
It ends dry, a bit grippy and quite long and lasting with lingering, delicious, tart, juicy fruit and peppery spice on the mouthwatering and lip-smacking finish. We found it to be at its best after a few hours of air and was similar on day 2.
We’ve offered several vintages of this wine in the past and this might be the best rendition yet – it’s just so savory. This is crying out to be paired with BBQ ribs!
Cheers,
Jon
2020 PETERSON TOLLINI OLD SCHOOL ZIN
Taste: 9 (91-93 points) Cost: 5
OVERALL RATING: 8.0
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
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Get the 2020 Peterson Tollini Old School Zin 4-Pack while you can! This deal ends Sunday 4/12 at midnight Pacific.
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