Our hosts provided the main course (delicious Peruvian chicken) and all of the participants brought a side dish in addition to their wine contribution.
Throughout the night we blind tasted 16 different Zinfandels. (!) At the end of the night, we voted on our top 3 favorites. The wines were numbered and organized in flights of old, Russian River Valley, Napa (with a ringer thrown in there for fun), Lodi, and misc.
I've never been a huge Zin fan, but found a few to be enjoyable- my notes are blow. Overall, the top three votes were for:
2005 Michael David Lust
2005 Four Vines Maverick Zinfandel
2005 Carlisle Tom Feeney Ranch
1993 Ravenswood Zinfandel Monte Rosso Vineyard -USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Valley
Fruit has faded a bit but some some darkdried cherries were detectable on the nose. It was balanced but thin on the palate with a short finish is short. Pleasant but past its peak. Received 2 votes.
1994 Hartford Zinfandel Hartford Vineyard - USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley
Dark purple color. More fruit on the nose and noticeable heat, but it was not overpowering. Nice full, big, rich mouthfeel and a long fruit driven finish. This is a nice wine, that held up better than the other older zins. 4 votes.
1995 Dry Creek Vineyard Zinfandel Old Vines - USA, California, Sonoma County
Pruney and raisiny, David noted kirsch on the nose and some actdity on the palate, but I tasted my wines slower than most of the group and found it to be thin and falling apart by the time I got to it. 1 vote
2004 Hartford Zinfandel Russian River Valley - USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley
A real change of pace after the flight of old zins. It had a big, bold nose of plums, spice and pepper- This was a very big wine and not at all my style. Many tasters noted that this was ‘over the top’ and suspected this was the Turley as this was a very big wine. (In his notes, David thought it was an ordinary Zin- nice call babe!)
2003 Hartford Zinfandel Fanucchi-Wood Road Vineyard - USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley
I heard this wine was a little closed at first but quickly opened up. By the time I got to it, I detected bold fruit and firm tannins. More than one taster noted that it improved with airtime. 8 votes.
2005 Carlisle Zinfandel Tom Feeney Ranch - USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley
A refreshing change and one of my favorites. I found it elegant with nice acidity and nose of dark cherries. Well balanced with a great finish. 10 votes - 3rd place.
2004 Rosenblum Cellars Petite Sirah Heritage Clones - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Contra Costa County
Almost everyone identified this as the ringer of the tasting and even though I didn’t know there was a ringer in the group, I could tell that one of these things was not like the other. It was a big wine with berries, worcestershire sauce, vanilla and spice. KInd of young and primary, I loved the smell but hated the taste- it wasn’t my thing at all. No votes.
2004 Rubicon Estate / Niebaum-Coppola Zinfandel Edizione Pennino - USA, California, Napa Valley
More than one taster mentioned that this was an ordinary but good zin. Typical but nothing remarkable. 5 votes.
2001 Schrader Cellars Zinfandel Vieux-Os Ira Carter - USA, California, Napa Valley We brought this bottle. The consensus was that it’s a good, but not great zin. There was some light fruit and nice acidity. 3 votes
2005 Four Vines Zinfandel Maverick - USA, California, Sierra Foothills, Amador County
Lush nose of white pepper and sweet plums. Beautiful mouthfeel on the palate. Acidity gave it some nice lift and it had a great finish. Excellent wine. 2nd place with 21 votes.
2005 Oak Ridge Winery Zinfandel Moss Roxx Ancient Vine - USA, California, Central Valley, Lodi
I learned a new term when tasting this wine as it had issues with TA. This refers to the total acidity as a percentage by volume; winemakers refer to this as the titratable acidity, or TA for short. The nose was like acetone, and the wine tasted sweet and raisiny. I poured this out but somehow it got 7 votes.
2005 Michael-David Vineyards Earthquake Zin - USA, California, Central Valley, Lodi
This bottle was corked. The good thing about this was that it taught me to trust my nose. I was tasting a bit slower than the rest of the group, and before it was pulled from the tasting, David brought his glass over for me to smell. I took a good whiff and said “what the hell is that?” Obviously I passed that test.
2005 Michael-David Vineyards Zinfandel Lust - USA, California, Central Valley, Lodi
I had a hard time detecting what other tasters identified as new oak in this wine. I didn’t find it off putting at all. Thought it had some nice fruit and vanilla on the nose with a full, rich mouthfeel, and long finish. This was a polarizing wine, some tasters thought it was horrible while others thought it was terrific. In the end, it was rated first place with 22 votes.
2003 Carol Shelton Zinfandel Rockpile Vineyard Sonoma County - USA, California, Sonoma County
Light but almost sour, I didn’t take many notes on this. Nice acidity, but not enough body and fruit to go along with it. Short finish.
2000 Carlisle Zinfandel Dry Creek Valley - USA, California, Sonoma County, Dry Creek Valley
This was our other bottle. It also had high levels of VA and was received as flawed.
2003 Turley Zinfandel Old Vines - USA, California
This was probably the most hyped wine of the night- everyone was guessing “which was the Turley?” I did not get to this one, but from others I heard that it had nice red jammy fruit with notes of pepper on the nose. Lighter in color, most tasters thought that this was a good, but not exceptional zin. David thought it was a bit green. Many tasters thought the 2004 Hartforrd was the Turley, but no one guessed this wine.
the damage
revealing the wines at the end of the night
voting on our favorites
We had a great night, met some really fantastic people, ate yummy food and I learned a bit out Zin. Unfortunately, we didn’t stay for too long after the event- David actually had to work on Saturday and Sunday- but a bunch of other wines were opened after the tasting and included 2005 Arcadian Sleepy Hollow Chard, 2006 Peay Viognier, 2005 Sonoma Coast Vineyards Chard, 2004 Las Rocas VV, 2005 Selbach Oster, among many others. At last count, 28 bottles (whoa!) were opened.
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