2007 Ravenswood Barricia Single Vineyard Zinfandel

Single-Vineyard Zin Brings The Ruckus

I’ve had quite the personal history with Ravenswood. Their Vintners Blend Merlot was one of the first wines I ever drank regularly. It was quite good for its price1 and it was easy to find.

I have since had some hit-or-miss times with Ravenswood. I’ve come to find that while the “approachability” of their Vintners Blend wines was perfect for me at 21 years old, I need something with a little more personality these days.

2007 Ravenswood Barricia Single Vineyard Zinfandel

Enter the Ravesnwood Single Vineyard Zinfandels. There are quite a few of them, and I have actually had several. This one, the Barricia, is a big dog zin. No joke. It spends 20 months in 100% French oak, clocks in at 14.5% ABV, and is actually 76% zinfandel and 24% petite sirah.

The wine is a dark purple in the core of the glass, lightening to a bit of a garnet red on the edges. On the nose is some blackberry and dark cherry, but also a touch more heat than I like to see.2

The 2007 Ravenswood Barricia is medium bodied, with a long finish. The alcohol comes through, but not too hot. The wine is robust and full-flavored, with a touch of dark fruit, but more obviously, a smoky, meaty element.

The flavor profile would go excellently with grilled meats, but the relatively heavy body, long finish, and higher alcohol make it hard to recommend as a summer barbecuing wine. Still, robust, tasty, and all up in your face: if this is what you look for in a zinfandel, then look no further.

Price Point: $35

Footnotes

  1. Or, at least, so I thought. My palate, as underwhelming as it may be now, was downright infantile back then. ↩
  2. Smell. ↩

2007 Intelligent Design Cuvee

Smart Central Coast Southern Rhône-style Surprise

There were reasons I thought I wouldn’t like Intelligent Design.

I’ll be perfectly honest, I’m not a fan of the name. Sure, this is my personal bias showing as if my zipper were down (XYPB, Steve), but when I hear the term “Intelligent Design,” I think of crazy fundies trying to teach kids creationism in science class. Rubs me more than just a little the wrong way.

2007 Intelligent Design Cuvee

I’ve got another bias to admit, and it’s this: I have something of a bias against wines that state a region on their bottle of either “California” or of one of the Super-AVAs (North Coast, Central Coast, South Coast, Sierra Foothills, Central Valley1). I usually prefer my wine with a bit more geographic specificity than can be offered by these topographical behemoths.

But, as in all things, bias must be set aside (or at least recognized and accounted for) and wine must be tasted and judged on its own merits.

The 2007 Intelligent Design Cuvee from Wesley Ashley Wines is a serious blend of southern Rhône varities: 51.5% carignane, 15% grenache, 14% cinsault, 11% petite sirah, 4.5% mourvèdre, 4% pinot noir.

Yeah, I said pinot noir. That was another reason I eyed this bottle with more than a little suspicion: who blends pinot noir with the southern Rhône Valley?

My biases and prejudices were all totally thrown out the window when I tasted the wine. This is very tasty stuff.

The wine has a ruby red core in the glass, that lightens to edges of dark pink. On the nose is a simultaneously bright-and-dark mixture of stewed cherry, blackcurrant, black pepper, and just a hint of raspberry.

The wine is light-bodied, lighter than its look in the glass belies. There are notes of spice and earth and smoke that mingle with a touch of the nose’s red fruit. Really awesome mixture. My only complaints here are a relatively short finish, and tannin that is just a touch too sharp. Perhaps more time in the bottle will solve the latter issue.

And a small issue it is. This is a very tasty wine from a newcomer to the California wine scene. I know I for one will be paying attention.

Price point: $38

Footnotes

  1. is the Central Valley an “official” Super-AVA now? Is there an “official” status of Super-AVAs? ↩

2009 The Prisoner

A Slight Decline, But Still Sublime

I am a big fan of The Prisoner. This is not news to anyone who previously read my rhapsodic review of the 2008 vintage. If you haven’t, feel free to, either now, or when you’re finished here.

I’m also a big fan of this wine, although it does show some dissimilarities with its immediate predecessor.

2009 The Prisoner Napa Valley Red Wine

For one thing, while Orin Swift Cellars is still the name on the bottle, a new crew owns The Prisoner. The 2009 is the first vintage bottled by The Prisoner’s new owners, Huneeus Vintners, who also own (among others) Quintessa and Faust in Napa Valley, Flowers on the Sonoma Coast, and Veramonte in Chile.

I’m not so sure the change in ownership has benefitted the wine. In fact, before finding any of this out, I had already decided I preferred the 2008. Still, this remains one of the single finest value buys in Napa Valley wine in my opinion. At $35 per bottle, you can easily do much, much worse.

In fact, don’t let my hand-wringing over the inside baseball of ownership dissuade you: this is some really, really good wine.

The 2009 Prisoner has a dark burgundy core in the glass, that lightens a bit to red at its edges. On the nose you’ll find ripe cherries, a touch of strawberry and raspberry. The nose is almost entirely fruit, and not quite as complex as the previous vintage. The wine is medium bodied, and the palate gives more of the complex aromas and flavors that are missing a bit from the nose: incredibly bright, jammy raspberry and cherry notes mingle with subtle dark chocolate and just a touch of smoke.

Soft, supple tannins round out the mouthfeel. Incredibly tasty.

Hopefully, Huneeus won’t fix what ain’t broke, and hopefully fans will be able to enjoy The Prisoner for years to come.