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 price 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.
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.
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
Affordable Italian Crowd Pleaser
In case you weren’t aware, there is a connection—actually, an absolute genetic sameness—between zinfandel and the Italian wine grape primitivo. They are both descendant clones of a Croatian grape, actually, one you will never be able to pronounce (give it a go: Crljenak).
I’m a pretty huge zin fan, some of my favorite wines are zinfandels or zin-based blends. So I was pretty excited to try the Italian equivalent. How could I go wrong? The bold, smoky, spicy flavors of my beloved zin, married with the traditions of Italian winemaking? Sounds positively delightful.
But who is VIVI? I’m not entirely sure, and their website does very little to tell me. Something about them screams “high production, not artisan” to me, but this may indeed turn out to be an unfair, ultimately untrue statement. What I do know is they make two wines: this VIVI Primitivo, and the VIVI Falanghina. So regardless of how big or small they are, props for bringing some of the lesser-known Italian varieties to the States.
Primitivo’s home and native land is the “heel” of Italy’s topographical “boot,” Puglia, and it’s from here that the VIVI Primitivo hails.
To the wine, then. The 2009 VIVI Primitivo is burgundy red at its core, with edges than both lighten and brown slightly to an auburn red. The nose shows off aromas that any zinfandel fan will feel right at home with: blackberry, tobacco, clove, and cinnamon. A lot of spice, a little dark fruit, and hints of herby and smoky elements.
The wine is light bodied and remarkably refreshing for something so bold. The finish is long. Quite long, though I’m not sure what I should reference in order to truly drive home the point that the finish on this wine is long. The VIVI Primitivo is spicy and robust, with notes of clove and dark spices mingling nicely with complementary aromas of light black and red fruits on the palate.
Yummy. And quite food-friendly. I liked this wine, a lot, actually. And it’s a pretty decent value, to be had for $10-$20. Easily recommended.
Price Point: $11
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.
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.
