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Les Lunes Wine

Zinfandel 2016

Price: $35.95
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Tasting notes

This is not the over-extracted, high-alcohol California Zinfandel you may be bracing for. At 13% from dry-farmed, organically grown vines on gravelly river-stone soils, it delivers cranberry, strawberry, and briar fruit with genuine mineral snap and clean acidity. The low-intervention cellar work at Les Lunes lets the Calpella terroir come through clearly.

BodyFruitTanninAcidity
Taste profile
StrawberryCranberryForest FloorMineral
  • Style: Dry, medium-bodied red; organic; 13% ABV; strawberry, cranberry, briar, mineral
  • Grapes & Terroir: 100% Zinfandel; Venturi Vineyard, Calpella, Mendocino County; Pinole gravelly loam over former Russian River bed (sandstone, shale, quartz); dry-farmed; organic
  • Winemaking: Native yeast fermentation; no fining, no filtration; minimal sulfur at bottling assessed per barrel; unfined, unfiltered
  • Serving: Serve at 60-64F; 20-30 min decant optional
  • Pairing: Grilled pork, lamb burgers, mushroom pizza, aged cow's milk cheese, cured meats
  • Similar To: For fans of restrained, terroir-driven reds who want California Zinfandel without high alcohol or heavy oak

The Venturi Vineyard sits in Calpella, a small farming community just north of Ukiah in Mendocino County. Larry Venturi is the third generation of his family to tend this site, which was planted in the late 1940s. The vines are head-trained and dry-farmed on Pinole gravelly loam soils — a former Russian River bed underlain by sandstone, shale, and quartz — under certified organic practices.

Les Lunes winemakers Shaunt Oungoulian and Diego Roig lease and farm their own vineyards throughout Northern California. Their cellar in Orinda is deliberately isolated so native yeasts from the vineyard drive fermentation without contamination from outside strains. No additions are made beyond a minimal touch of sulfur assessed barrel by barrel before bottling. The wine is unfined and unfiltered.

The Mendocino County growing season around Ukiah averages 268 days, with warm days and cool Pacific-influenced nights pulling through a gap in the Coastal Range. That diurnal swing preserves the natural acidity that keeps this wine fresh despite its ripe, brambly fruit character. At 13% ABV, it sits at the lighter end of California Zinfandel.

On the palate, expect strawberry and cranberry alongside notes of forest floor and briar. The wine has a mineral edge that reflects the gravelly, river-stone soils of the Venturi site, and finishes with clean acidity rather than residual sweetness or heat.

The wine's bright acidity and moderate tannin make it a natural match for grilled pork sausages, lamb burgers, or a wood-fired mushroom pizza. It also pairs well with aged cow's milk cheeses or a charcuterie board anchored by cured meats. Avoid very rich braises — the wine's freshness works better against char and umami than against heavy fat.

Wine details

Dry/Sweet:, Dry
Wine Type:, Red Wine
Wine Style:, Medium Body
Grapes:, Zinfandel
Farming:, Organic
Vintage:, 2016
Alcohol:, 13%
Country:, United States
Region:, Mendocino County
Appellation:, Mendocino County AVA
Bottle Size:, 750ml
Sugar Level:, Zero Added Sugar

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.


Important Compliance Requirements

FedEx and other carriers we might occasionally use can only deliver wine to customers who are 21 years or older. Someone must be at the address to receive the package, carriers don't just drop a package and leave. They must ensure the person receiving the wine is 21 or older.


Re-shipping a Package

If a package is returned to us after three failed delivery attempts, we can only re-ship the wine upon payment of a re-shipping fee, to be determined based on the shipping address and number of bottles. Shipping wine is extremely expensive. We are sorry about this, but we have no other choice. Please make sure there's always someone at the address you enter as your shipping address.

If you'd like to receive a refund for a package that was returned to us after FedEx made three delivery attempts, we can do that but we must keep a $20 refund fee; FedEx charges us a lot of money for returns, unfortunately, I can't stress this enough.


Re-routing a Package

If you'd like to reroute a package after it's been shipped, we can do so for a $20 re-routing fee. We cannot re-route a package across state borders. For any change of address, please contact us as soon as possible, ideally within 1-2 days from placing the order or we cannot guarantee we'll be able to reroute or change your order's shipping address.


Canceling an Order

If you'd like to cancel an order after it's been shipped, we can do so upon payment of a small cancellation fee – the amount depends on the size of the order. Carriers charge us a lot of money to recall a package en-route.


Heat/Frost damage

We are not responsible for heat- or frost-related issues. We offer ice-packs upon request. Please let us know if you think that there could be heat-related issues. If we don't hear anything from you regarding weather issues before an order is shipped, or if you don't request a hold due to the weather, we are not responsible for heat/frost damage.


Placed an order. What next?

1. You will receive an order confirmation email with your order summary.*

2. As soon as your order ships from the warehouse, usually within 2-3 business days, this applies to all shipping rates, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with your tracking information. 2DAY shipping refers to shipping time; we still need 2-3 business days to prepare an order. We need to pick and pack, QA, add printed collateral, and palletize the orders.

3. Please track your package using the tracking service.

4. The carrier will attempt delivery a maximum of 3 times. After 3 delivery attempts, your package will be sent back to our warehouse.**

*Please ensure your email address is correct; otherwise, you will not receive the order and shipping confirmation emails.

**If delivery is attempted 3 times without success, or if you fail to retrieve your package from the carrier depot by the stated deadline, the shipping fee will not be refunded to the customer.

Returns Policy

If you are not satisfied with your purchase, please contact us at (424) 414-2040 or via e-mail at hello@primalwine.com between 9 am and 5 pm Pacific Standard Time, Monday through Sunday, we would like to understand and try to solve your concerns. We can offer refunds only as store credit.

Producer profile

Les Lunes Wine

Les Lunes Wine is the project of Shaunt Oungoulian and Diego Roig, based in the Bay Area. They lease and farm their own vineyard sites across Sonoma, Napa, and Mendocino counties — over 40 acres in total — and built their own cellar in Orinda, east of Berkeley, to maintain full control at every stage. Operating from their own isolated space means fermentations run exclusively on indigenous yeasts native to each vineyard, free from outside microbial influence.

Their farming approach is organic and hands-on: precise pruning, suckering, cover cropping, and compost applications replace synthetic inputs. Rather than correcting nutrient deficiencies in the tank, Oungoulian and Roig address them in the vineyard beforehand. They seek out historic, organically farmed vineyard sites in Northern California and aim to work exclusively with fruit they farm themselves. The Venturi Vineyard in Calpella is one such site — dry-farmed, organically managed, and tended by a family that has worked the land for three generations.

In the cellar, Les Lunes makes no additions to the wine beyond an occasional minimal dose of sulfur, assessed barrel by barrel before bottling. Wines are not fined or filtered. The goal is a classical California style: wines that are fresh and approachable young but have the structure and acidity to age. Les Lunes is distributed through Zev Rovine Selections.

Wine region

Mendocino County, United States

Mendocino County is California's northernmost significant wine-producing county, sitting within the broader North Coast appellation. The county encompasses eight valleys including Anderson Valley, Redwood Valley, and the Ukiah Valley. Vineyards range in elevation from roughly 250 to over 1,600 feet. The growing season averages 268 days — shorter than neighboring Sonoma — and annual rainfall averages around 39 inches, falling primarily in winter, leaving the summer growing season dry. Around Ukiah and Calpella, warm days are tempered by cool Pacific air that pushes through a gap in the Coastal Range each evening, creating diurnal temperature swings that preserve natural acidity in the grapes.

Mendocino County contains multiple sub-AVAs including Anderson Valley, Redwood Valley, Mendocino Ridge, Potter Valley, and McDowell Valley, among others. Calpella, where the Venturi Vineyard is located, sits just north of Ukiah near the edge of the Redwood Valley AVA. Redwood Valley soils are predominantly red, rocky, and iron-rich, with free-draining gravelly loam common near the old Russian River benchlands. The county has a long history of Italian immigrant grape growing, and Zinfandel has been planted here since the 1880s. Mendocino is recognized for Zinfandel alongside Carignan, Petite Sirah, and Charbono, and a substantial proportion of its producers farm organically.

Frequently asked question

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.

Signature on delivery is mandatory for wine deliveries. Please make sure someone is at the shipping address to sign for the package.

If applicable, please consider delivering the package to a business address to ensure someone is available to sign for the package.

We also have the option of delivering the package to a Carrier's store for pickup. Please reach out to us to coordinate.

Carrier will try to delivery a package up to three times before returning the package to us.

See here our shipping policy.

If you miss a delivery and a package gets returned to us we have two options:

1) Reship the package right away: due to the very high cost of shipping and returns, we must charge a re-shipping fee to be determined based on package size and shipping destination.

2) Consolidate the returned package with your next order: this option is free of charge and it's the most popular option.

See here our shipping policy.

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