Notes From The Cellar » zinfandel

☆ 2007 Ravenswood Barricia Single Vineyard Zinfandel

Steve — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 15:00:48 +0000

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.

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

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

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☆ 2009 VIVI Primitivo

Steve — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 15:00:41 +0000

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

☆ 2009 The Prisoner

Steve — Wed, 25 May 2011 15:00:55 +0000

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.

☆ 2008 Lambert Bridge Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel

Steve — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 17:00:15 +0000

Supple, Refined Sonoma Zin

One of my favorite dichotomies in California wine is the massive gulf of disparity between Sonoma and Lodi zinfandel. Both areas are well-known for California’s Grape,^™ but both areas do it so very differently.

Zins from Lodi tend to be what I think most people get the idea that zinfandel is, which is big, spicy, high in alcohol but not exactly a fruit bomb. Not totally food-friendly unless you’re pairing it with something that can hold its own (a peppered steak, or maybe some pretty heavy curry).

On the flipside, zinfandel from Sonoma tends to be a bit brighter, more supple and refined. Less spicy, lower in alcohol and more food friendly. It can also be, well, pretty boring at times.

The 2008 DCV Zin from Lambert Bridge is definitely not one of the boring Sonoma zinfandels.

85% zinfandel and 15% petite sirah, this blend from Lambert Bridge’s own Winery Ranch Vineyard is an excellent example of the supple, refined side of California zinfandel. The introduction of the petite sirah, however, gives it a bit of an edge that keeps it from being too flabby or uninspired.

The wine is ruby in the center, and a light pink to the glass’s edge. On the nose is a very nice mixture of fruit and texture aromas, where raspberry and espresso mingle with tobacco and a hard-to-define chalkiness that comes off very rustic, very authentic. The wine is medium-bodied, soft and supple in the mouth. The dominant note is black cherry, but more of the chalky rusticness from the nose appears here on the palate.

What you won’t find are rough edges, super-high ABV (14%), or a lot of spice notes. A little rustic, a whole lotta refined, the 2008 Zin from Lambert Bridge is a very good example of what Sonoma has to offer zinfandel fans.

☆ 2008 Turley Dusi Vineyard Zinfandel

Steve — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 18:45:27 +0000

Hot Paso Zin For Your Cold Autumn Nights

It’s cold!

For those of you without the good fortune of calling the San Francisco Bay Area home, let me introduce you to the term “weather wimp.”

Weather Wimp, n., one unaccustomed to extreme changes in weather conditions and temperature, and who will embarrassingly complain about daytime temperatures outside the range of 65°–85° Fahrenheit.

This obviously changes a bit from season to season. We weather wimps are not unreasonable. We don’t expect 85 degree weather in November. But we also can’t handle 35 degrees in November. During the day. With the sun out.

In order to salve my worried soul over the implications of such CLIMATE CHANGE (sorry, was that emphasis distracting?) on my future and the future of my as-yet-to-be-conceived children, I turn to you, dear reader, with a tale of hot wine for cold nights.

Now, “hot” isn’t always a good thing. Usually, in fact, it’s used in a derogatory manner to describe wine that shows off too much of its alcohol; that is, to put it bluntly, unbalanced. Perhaps nigh undrinkable.

But I also think of “hot” wine as big, bold, fruity, and yes, alcohol-heavy wine from hot regions of the world, like Australia, parts of South America, and California’s Central Valley, like Lodi or Fresno.

Or Paso Robles.

Dusty, windy, seemingly inhospitable, to an outsider appearing to be fit for neither man nor beast, Paso Robles provides the world with some very impressive wine. The hot region within California’s sprawling Central Coast AVA is home to, among many others, Dusi Vineyard.

Turley Wine Cellars, located just a hop, skip, and a jump down 101 from the city of Paso Robles itself, is one of more than a few winemakers to make zinfandel from Dusi Vineyard grapes. And what kind of zinfandel is it, you ask?

It’s pretty. It’s really quite pretty. Bright, brilliant red-pink in the glass. Lots of zinfandel hangs out in the darker hues, but this is nice and bright. Warm, and inviting. It stays pretty on the nose, too, with underripe strawberry and some succulent red apple notes. Finally, it’s pretty on the way down, as well: a sort of candied cherry mixes with some earthtones to mellow out what was beginning to be a too-pretty, too-sweet affair.

And the alcohol is here. This isn’t, by any means, a food-pairing wine. But on a cold autumn night, with temperatures hovering in the high 30s or low 40s, your favorite weather wimp likes to be warmed up. And this is a hot Paso Robles zinfandel that can do just that.

Verdict: 89/100
Price Point: $50-$60

☆ 2008 The Prisoner

Steve — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 16:00:05 +0000

Gladly Taken Prisoner

Orin Swift Cellars is new.

I don’t mean “new” like they were just formed yesterday, or this is their first vintage, or even that you probably haven’t heard of them. They weren’t, the first release of The Prisoner was the 2003 vintage, and it’s entirely likely that you have.

What I mean is that they’re nouveau. They’re young, and vibrant, and current, and modern. Exciting and interesting, doing things and saying things.

Winery honcho/winemaker/jefe Dave Phinney likes him some zinfandel. The first wine he released under the Orin Swift Cellars name was the 2003 Prisoner, a zinfandel-based blend of some incredible Napa juice. The latest vintage is no different.

The 2008 Prisoner is 46% zinfandel, 26% cabernet sauvignon, 15% syrah, 10% petite sirah, 2% charbono, and 1% grenache. The main players, in my opinion, are the first three, and before you read on you should probably try to think, for a second, what a zinfandel/cab sauv/syrah blend might be like.

Ready?

If your first thought was “big,” you get a gold friggin’ star.

Luckily for me, and everyone else who’s had the fortune of drinking the 2008 Prisoner, “big” is not the only appropriate descriptor here. Fruit-forward, balanced, acidic, earthy all work as well. So, the notes, then?

The wine is dark as night in the core of the glass, and lightens to a bright ruby red at the edges. The nose is lush with sweet cherries and darker, richer blackberries, plus a hint of tobacco or cigar box aromas. It smells rich. It smells like it’s not about to fuck around.

The Prisoner is a full-bodied wine that really coats your mouth. Here is an actual note I wrote in my notebook:

Tannin structure out the ass

This, I assure you, should be translated as “lots of structure.” The tannins aren’t rough or overpowering, though. Raspberry and cherry do a little dance, make a little love, and get down with a nicely-balanced earthiness and acidity that just makes itself known on the mid-palate. The lingering finish of cherries keeps you coming back for more.

I say god damn, this is some tasty wine.

The Prisoner has gained a cult following, and it is deserved. This latest vintage is a great example of California red blends done well, and for around $30 a bottle it won’t take your pocketbook captive.

Verdict: 95/100

2008 The Prisoner

☆ 2006 Quivira Anderson Ranch Zinfandel

Steve — Wed, 19 May 2010 15:00:32 +0000

“Wine Is Not Made… Wine Is Grown”

I haven’t bought in to the whole organic/biodynamic thing in wine yet. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m not some ecologically laissez-faire industrialist monster looking for any excuse to burn coal and club baby seals, but wine needs to taste good.

I’ve tried a few attempts at the organic/biodynamic thing (quick sidenote: I don’t want to offend anyone by conflating the two terms, but it seems to me that the latter is a subset of the former. However, since the former is so much more well-known as a term, I will continue to use them in this slashy manner. Carrying on…) and I’ve been less than impressed.

Until I stumbled upon a little winery in Dry Creek Valley I’d (no surprise here, really) never heard of.

Quivira's solar-panel-topped tasting room

Quivira Vineyards and Winery is a total hippie new-agey type place. Fortunately I’m actually pretty down with that in general, as long as your juice brings it. And theirs does, especially our topic of discussion today: the 2006 Anderson Ranch Zinfandel. There’s all kinds of great info on this wine on their website, but I’m here to tell you the most important part: what’s it taste like?

Unlike the baked zins of Lodi and California’s central valley, the zins of Dry Creek Valley always come off a bit subtler, more refined. No escaping that here, so don’t expect to get your ass handed to you by overpowering spice. There’s a smoothness to the big sound, here—more Michael McDonald, less Don Henley, if that makes any sense to you.

In the glass, the wine is a solid dark ruby throughout, with very little change retreating to the edges. The nose features dark chocolate, raspberry, and a bit of a bitter espresso note. You kinda have to dig the bitter (Ed note: I do.) to dig that, but it’s nice.

The 2006 Anderson Ranch is full-bodied, with lots of notes of black pepper and dark spices, tasting a lot like a spice rack smells. But there’s also a pretty sick chocolate note in there, nothing to sniff at (though, certainly, something to sniff).

All in all, this is exactly what I like in zinfandel, and I can highly recommend it. Hopefully, it bodes well for my personal experience in the years to come with organic/biodynamic wine.

Verdict: A-

☆ NV Steven Kent Insieme Red Blend

Steve — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 16:00:35 +0000

Odd Blends Do Not Always Work

I’m always down for interesting, different blends. Steven Kent Winery tosses its hat in this particular ring with the Insieme. The Insieme I tasted was non-vintage: some of the grapes were harvested in 2006, and some in 2007. It’s a blend of 34% mourvedre, 30% syrah, 20% zinfandel, and 16% grenache. It’s also 15% ABV, so you better be in the mood for the alcohol.

For me, that alcohol level was kind of a turn-off. It made the nose of the wine smell like rubber and alcohol. It wasn’t disgusting, it wasn’t completely off-putting, but I could tell that the alcohol content of the wine (which I guessed at at the time, didn’t know the exact amount until later) was overpowering other notes on the nose.

The only fruit note I noticed on the palate was kind of a sour cherry, or perhaps black cherry. The wine was very tight, and rough and tannic. I’d like to say it was simply youth, and the wine needs to be laid down for 5-10 years. However, it’s my (as of yet still undereducated) understanding that higher-ABV wines do not cellar well, which leaves me at a bit of a conundrum. I suppose at $30 for the bottle of Insieme, I could buy some, lay it down myself, and try it again in 2016 or so.

But I’d rather spend my money on more enjoyable wine.

Verdict: C+

☆ 2007 Tamas Estates Andiamo

Steve — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:42:58 +0000

Made Up Names Can Make For Great Wines

The woman at Tamas Estates’ tasting room was very frank.

“Andiamo isn’t a varietal or style. We made up the word.”

Why? It has to do with certain California wine label laws that state when a winery can (and when they cannot) list a grape varietal on a wine’s label. Seventy-five percent of a wine’s content must be of the stated varietal, assuming there is one at all.

Tamas’ “Andiamo” is 50% Zinfandel, 47% Sangiovese, and 3% Petite Sirah. So while it isn’t 75% any one grape (and hence, has a made-up name) it is 100% delectable.

As a friend likes to put it, “that’s some good juice.”

The nose on the Andiamo is very earthy and rich, it smells like an orchard in the summer, you can almost smell tree bark in there (oh yeah… the wine is fermented in oak barrels, isn’t it?). There’s also a hint of warm spice, like nutmeg or cardamom or something similar.

On the palate, the wine is rich and lustrous. Notes of coffee and chocolate mix with a very dark and hearty raspberry note. The wine feels like drinking velvet.

This is not to say it’s anything like, for instance, Porto or Madeira. It’s not thick or sticky feeling, or really all that sweet. But the flavors are big and bold and quite impressive. Recommended.

Verdict: B+

☆ 2007 Tamas Estates Zinfandel Riserva

Steve — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 18:02:58 +0000

A Fruit Bomb From Livermore

I’ve reviewed a couple wines from Tamas already (barbera and sangiovese) and really liked them both. So when the gang headed out to do our big tasting day in the Livermore Valley, we had to put Tamas on our itinerary. I’m glad we did, as a couple of the wines that we tasted that day topped my list along with the Merrillie Chardonnay from Steven Kent.

This wasn’t one of them.

Not that it was an awful wine. Everything from Tamas was decent-to-excellent. But this was not for me at all.

On the nose is cherry. Very heavy cherry. So much cherry, I wondered if someone had dropped a cough drop in my glass, but no, just the zin.

The palate is no different. Huge huge cherry-centered fruit flavor. Seriously, this wine is like drinking a box of Juicy Juice. To be fair, my compatriots did not, as a whole, agree with me, and many of them liked it. But no one raved. Even if you like fruit bombs, the one-note character of this wine is still off-putting.

For the first time, I cannot recommend a Tamas wine. The Riserva is not one of their “touring” wines, as they call them, so it is not available in stores nationwide. Which is fine by me.

Verdict: C-