Picture a warm evening in St. Helena. A band is settling into a groove, glasses are filling, and somewhere near the front, Gary Erickson has set down his Zinfandel and picked up his trumpet. He’s not on the setlist. That’s never stopped him.
That scene is the whole spirit of Gary’s Improv Zinfandel, the wine that has anchored our portfolio since the winery’s earliest days. This is the story of how one of our founders put his two favorite things in the same bottle, and why it’s the wine we’d hand you at a backyard table. Let’s get into it.
Where Gary’s Improv Began
Gary’s love of jazz started young. The trumpet pulled him in first, and then the thing that makes jazz jazz: improvisation. No two performances are the same. A player listens to the room and takes a chance in real time, and the best moments are the ones nobody planned.
Years later, when Gary and Kit Crawford traded full-time life at Clif Bar for an organic farm and vineyard in Napa Valley, a different obsession took hold. Zinfandel, with its bold fruit and signature spice, became the wine Gary kept coming back to. Making a Zinfandel that honored both passions was the obvious next move.
The name has been true to life ever since. At Clif Family Wine Club events, you’ll still find Gary with a glass of Zin at the ready and his trumpet in hand, sitting in with the band. Watch the video. That’s just Gary being Gary.
Why Jazz and Zinfandel Belong Together
Here’s the thing about both jazz and Zinfandel: people love to make them complicated, and neither one needs it.
Jazz doesn’t ask you to study before you listen. The melody wanders, hands the theme to another player, and comes back changed — you just have to be in the room. Zinfandel works the same way. The first sip leads with ripe fruit, then pepper and spice slip in, and the finish lands somewhere you didn’t expect. The discovery is the fun. Nobody’s quizzing you afterward.
There’s also the improvisation itself. Zinfandel is famously expressive of where and how it’s grown. Same grape, different vineyard, different year: a new performance every vintage. A winemaker working with Zin does a lot of listening and responding, which any jazz musician would recognize.
Pro Tip: Try giving an album the same attention you’d give a glass. One record, one bottle, a couple of friends, no phones. Kind of Blue and a Zinfandel will carry the evening on their own.
The 2022 Vintage: What’s in the Glass
Our current release of Gary’s Improv Zinfandel comes from our Valle di Sotto Vineyard in Napa Valley’s Oak Knoll District AVA, where cooling marine influence gives the fruit its bright, zesty edge. The vineyard is farmed organically, the same way we grow the food on our St. Helena farm, which helps the grapes hold onto their lively acidity and pure fruit flavor.
In the glass, the 2022 opens rich and sweet, with chocolate-covered cherries and blackberry pie, then answers with a “yes, and” of black pepper and sage. The acidity keeps everything fresh through a long finish.
This is a bottle made by real people you can name: Gary’s passion, winemaker Laura Barrett’s hand, fruit from a vineyard we farm ourselves. And it’s a wine built for the table, not the trophy case. Open it on a Tuesday. It won’t mind.
What to Eat (and Listen to) with Zinfandel
Zinfandel is one of the most food-friendly reds we make, and the 2022 was practically built for a barbecue. The wine’s sweet fruit and peppery spice stand up to tangy sauces, fatty meats, and smoked just-about-everything. A few pairings we keep coming back to:
- Grilled tri-tip or ribs. Smoke and char meet the wine’s dark fruit head on.
- Barbecue chicken. The sauce’s tang plays off the Zin’s bright acidity.
- Aged cheddar or gouda. For a slower evening, a cheese board does the trick.
- Our farm-made chocolate. The wine literally tastes like chocolate-covered cherries. Lean in.
As for the soundtrack, you don’t need to be a jazz scholar. Start with the classics: Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, a little Coltrane if the night runs long. If you want something that matches the wine’s energy, look for live recordings. The crowd noise and loose edges suit a wine named for improvisation.
Let the Good Times Roll
Gary’s Improv started as one man’s two favorite things in a single bottle, and more than twenty years later it still works the same way. Grab a bottle of the 2022, put on some jazz, and let the evening take its own shape. If Gary’s example is anything to go by, the unplanned moments are the ones you’ll remember.
Napa Valley Wine Delivered to Your Doorstep
If a wine with a real story behind it is your kind of wine, the Wine Drop works the way you already gather. Pick 3 or 6 bottles, choose how often a release shows up, and swap or skip whenever you like — it’s yours to shape. Every shipment brings small-production bottles like Gary’s Improv, with the people and the why behind each one.
