When we met him, Rudy Mancini welcomed us with a warm handshake—which felt like it could crush rocks. So we had to ask. Yes, he's not only a relative of the great boxer, Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini; Rudy himself was "The Kid" Mancini in the 1950s.

We'd already heard about his Zinfandel grapes, but none of us were prepared for that "pow-right-in-the-kisser" we got from our first handful. The flavors were incredible. You could taste the massively dark and pure brambleberry fruit, right there—hanging from the vine. Pound for pound, it's some of the best stuff we've ever tasted. Yep, we had scored another great vineyard. The only problem: Now we had to shake on it!