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dashe

100 meter

Dashe 2002 Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley) – 14.5%. About 50% there, which means that while the coconut and tannin are still hanging about, the suppler, spicier fruit of aged zin is starting to emerge. What this means in terms of drinkability, unfortunately, is that the pose is that of a somewhat gangly teenager. Wait a bit longer. (1/10)

…r and dancer

Dashe 1999 Zinfandel Todd Brothers Ranch (Alexander Valley) – 15%. Extremely oaky, in the soupy vanilla/milk chocolate/coconut fashion of a young zin in the Ridge mold, and with few other signs that the wine has aged at all…other than a noticeable reduction in what was its youthful tannin. This clearly needs more time, but watch that lingering wood. (1/10)

Zindanges tardives

[vineyard]Dashe 2007 “Late Harvest” Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley) – From 375 ml, 14.1% alcohol, 9% residual sugar by weight. Called by someone I know “the worst wine he’s had all year,” or something along those lines. I don’t see it. It tastes like classic late-harvest zin to me. True, it screeches with volatile acidity, and that’s normally enough to lead to the latter of the fight/flight reaction in me, but the concentrated, sticky fruit (berries of all shapes and hues) seems to somehow lighten as it moves past its fermentably-dry stage. It’s…cute. (1/10)

Marinovich

Dashe 1998 Zinfandel Todd Brothers Ranch (Alexander Valley) – 14.5%. Tiring, and though it still clings to remnants of its dusty, dark fruit days, those days are firmly in the past. It’s not yet in an imbalanced stage, in which the structure overwhelms the remnants, but it’s getting there. (12/09)

Dry, dry again

[vineyard]Dashe 1999 Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley) – 14.5%. By all rights, one should be drinking the site-designated Dashe zinfandels now, and this one should be a memory. I can’t speak to the “better” wines, but I can say that – at least based on this bottle – there’s no real hurry to ferret out the stragglers from this stock. It shows a lot of the really appealing signs of maturing zin, like tiny wild berries bearing a significant dust component, gentle coffee aromas, and a dark, organic earthiness; fans of older Ridge will recognize much here, and I’d say that even were there no connection between the two wineries. But there’s also still-evolving structure, and some unquestionable tightness to the wine’s core. There’s no harm in drinking it, for certain, but I’m still not sure it’s done with its journey. A really good wine, well-rewarding its time in the cellar. (10/09)

Dashe 2006 Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley) – 14.5%. Big, for sure, with zingy and somewhat elbowy smallberry fruit of a mildly explosive nature, black-peppered earth, and good structure. One oddity: after about an hour, the wine essentially disappears, leaving a hollow cylinder of structure behind. But up to that point, it’s entirely delish. (8/09)

Gates

[vineyard]Dashe 2007 Zinfandel “l’Enfant Terrible” McFadden Farms (Potter Valley) – 13.8%, native yeast, etc. Served blind. Guesses range from Beaujolais to Clos Roche Blanche’s famous Côt/Malbec blend, but it’s been served because one of the blind tasters has repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction with the wine. Here, he likes it…until the reveal, at which point he turns on it. Since this is just about the only useful thing one can learn via non-contextual blind tasting, I consider the experiment a success (he says with a self-satisfied smirk). As for the wine? Tastes carbonic – and yes, I know winemakers insist such a thing can’t be tasted, but the carbonated pop and zing is what I mean – with soft earth, gentle red fruit, lima bean, asparagus, and a fair structure despite the wine’s lightness. There’s a fade to the wine that it didn’t have last year, and the tannin’s a little more prominent, so I’d guess that wherever the wine’s going, it’s headed there. I like it, though I’m not enraptured by it, but I think it’s time to leave it alone for a while. (3/09)

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