I remember the first time that I tasted Tre Son wines, was at my local wine shop The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan back in 2018 and I was told that it was an exclusive to the wine shop.  In August of 2021 was the next time that I tried the wine, and it was an impromptu tasting with the owner of the winery and the first time that I met Willie Newman.  There is something about tasting wine and chatting that just makes a moment special.  Now it is hard to believe, but it was actually in November of 2021 that he hosted a formal wine tasting at the shop.  Considering that I publish an article every other day, it sounds amazing that I am just getting to these wines and tasting. 

All of the Tre Son wines come from the 4 Hearts Vineyard.  We started with the Tre Son Cabernet Sauvignon Paso Robles 2018.  The wine was aged for six months in a mix of new and neutral French Oak barrels. It was a full-bodied wine with notes of dark fruit and spice and a very balanced fruit and tannin mix, and then my notes scream terroir.  You know that I get excited about wines that show great terroir.  I don’t know if the terroir is more pronounced, because they use dry-farming techniques, but I was a happy camper.  This was followed by a tasting of his 4 Hearts Vineyard “Private Stash” Cabernet/Petite Sirah 2012 (twenty percent Petite Sirah).  This was not for sale, as he brought some bottles to let the tasters see how well his wines do in a cellar.  I really appreciate tasting older wines, and through the course of years, I have discovered that others do not, but this wine to me was very rich and multi-layered and the terroir had a very nice long count. 

Then we had a glass of Tre Son Zinfandel Paso Robles 2018, and the bulk of the vineyard is devoted to Zinfandel.  The wine is aged for twelve months in neutral French Oak to allow the grape to shine as opposed to the spices inherent in the oak.  This was a nice chewy wine offering notes of black fruit and pepper, and while delivering notes of black cherry and plums, it was not a fruit bomb that keeps me away from Zins to this day, but it really packed a nice finish of terroir.  Then Willie poured his 4 Hearts “Private Stash” Zinfandel 2014 and once again, this was not for sale, but to show how well his wines were cellaring.  The first commercial vintage was 2009, and the “Private Stash” appeared in 2010.  This wine was still offering all the notes of the 2018, but the wine had mellowed and was layered with textures and richness, plus that long finish of terroir.  Finally, once again, not for sale, but as a learning experience, we had the 4 Hearts (“Private Stash”) Zin 2010; as the bottle only had masking tape and a magic marker written label.  All of the Zinfandel wines were aged for twelve months in neutral French Oak and while I am no maven, especially on Zinfandel, this wine was totally mellow with the fruit mixing with the tannins and for very young vines, this wine made me perfectly happy.  It was indeed a special event at The Fine Wine Source and the crowds that gathered were all enjoying the moment.