Browse Tag

zinfandel

Little Marie

[label]Marietta 2005 Zinfandel (Sonoma County) – 15.3%. A little hot and sticky, with fire-roasted dark berries, twisted and wild, in a forest of slightly charred trees. There’s a lot of flavor here, but it’s formless, and at the core is…not much. (6/08)

Old unfaithful

Ridge 1994 Geyserville (Sonoma County) – This is tight and flailing away at any attempt to make it less so, with primary wood and a not-altogether-pleasant liqueur character dominating all else; it’s a combination of fairly prominent alcohol and syrupy fruit (though just what that fruit is remains fairly opaque, even if a few of the famed ollalieberries make their presence known in a brief, shy encounter). There’s also unmistakable balsamic on the finish, which I just do not want to taste in my zin. And then, the tannin whips the palate, the acid pokes a bony finger forth, and the coconut wood covers everything in a blanket of shaved tropicality. This is a strange performance vs. the last bottle I tasted, which was much more complete and generous despite being quite primary itself. Ah, the mysteries of bottle variation. (8/07)

There once was a wine from Sonoma

[bottle]Limerick Lane 2004 Zinfandel Collins (Russian River Valley) – 14.6%. Assertive, perhaps even aggressive, showing walnuts (heavy on the skins), hazelnuts, wild blackberries, and perhaps a bit of espresso bean. Solid, somewhat blocky, and youthful; age might help, as the balance is reasonable despite a lot of clumsy adolescent stumbling at the moment. (6/08)

Sergeant Schultz

Klinker Brick 2005 Zinfandel “Old Vine” (Lodi) – 15.5%. Soupy oak and the harsh burn of Scotch, spice, and not much identifiable as fruit…mostly a browned-out anonymity that might, once, have been grapes. (6/08)

Artezinal wine

[bottle]Artezin 2006 Zinfandel (Mendocino County) – 14.5%. Dense, over-structured…and over-wooded? The leaden spice box aromas alongside oak-like tannins suggest so, but I don’t know for sure. This wine is full of something I wouldn’t quite call flavor, but that flavor mostly just lies there, uninterested in much aside from the size of its triceps. Time might help, but I suspect instead that this will simply collapse under its own weight. (5/08)

Sobon, farewell

Sobon Estate 2005 Zinfandel “Hillside” (Amador County) – 14.5%. Good, basic Amador zin flavors…wild, tiny, dark berries and a gnarly, twisted texture burned into some remote, grassy, sun-drenched hillside…with little in the way of complexity or nuance. Sometimes, that’s all you want. (5/08)

Semi-human resources?

Montevina “Terra d’Oro” 2001 Zinfandel “SHR Field Blend” (Amador County) – 15%. The initial burst is oak, followed by over-toasted vanilla and then some tortured, mangled, and blackened fruit residue. Eventually, it calms down enough to be unpleasantly drinkable, but the damage remains clear on the face. This just isn’t very good. (4/08)

Draperlate

Ridge 1995 Zinfandel Pagani Ranch “Late Picked” (Sonoma Valley) – Concentrated blackberry that narrows to a thin beam of acidity. Ridge’s late-picked wines are rarely my favorites, but for reasons (volatile acidity, mostly) not on display here. Rather, this is a wine that seems to be thinking about coming apart. It’s quite approachable, but it’s pretty much all approach, and no follow-through. (4/08)

Shot out of a

Concannon 2006 Zinfandel (Central Coast) – Spiced plum, black pepper. Tries to be forward, but ultimately it’s just flat and simple. (2/08)