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What We Saw (& Tasted) At ZAP 2011

Yes, January 29, 2011, was a while ago. And, yes, I still remember the ZAP Grand Tasting at San Francisco's Fort Mason Center vividly. It was a fitfully drizzly day, but we had a fine time tasting, and a fantastic dinner at A16 on Chestnut Street after the tasting.

There were more than 250 wineries offering samples of their Zinfandel wines. We knew, going in, that we couldn't taste them all. So, as we stood in line waiting to be admitted, we looked through the program and identified the 30-some-odd wineries we thought we ought to taste. We stuck to our list (it was pretty easy to keep in my head), tasted a few wines randomly when we had finished our list, and headed out for a stroll around town (wet) and that fine dinner (with a kitchen view).

Here are the wineries we had on our list (if it isn't exactly 30 it's because I forgot someone ... which suggests they weren't that memorable). I've put an asterisk in front of those I found particularly exciting:

Accademia dei Racemi ... just because they are growing Zinfandel in Italy from Dry Creek Valley budwood.

Bedrock Wine Co.

Brazin ... easy to find wines, but we hadn't previously seen (or tasted) their vineyard designated bottlings.

*Brown Estate ... expensive, but elegant and very fine.

*C. G. Di Arie ... talked about Captain Crunch with its inventor and his wife ... fun times and really really really good wines. A favorite.

Claudia Springs ... our pals Bob and Claudia Klindt.

Dendor Patton ... our pals Bill Dendor and Dennis Patton, with their old vine "Wisdom" bottling. Nice.

Klinker Brick ... since they also bottle "Old Ghost" - see SteampunkWines.com for that.

*Lava Cap ... Another favorite.

Lucas.

*McNab Ridge ... doing some gimmicky but tasty Zin bottlings, like Zinister and Zinzilla.

*Michael-David ... new collection of appellation Zins, named after the sins (as in Seven Deadly Sins, one of their other bottlings). Very vine and quite pricey.

Milliaire (and Black Sheep) ... old vine Ghiradelli Vineyard; we need a trip to taste in Murphys.

Novy Family.

*Pendroncelli ... Bargain Alert! Mother Clone and "reserve" bottlings were very good, and very reasonably priced. 

Puccioni ... old friend Glenn Proctor, from Ciatti.

*Ridge ... lots of great Zin bottlings, but they all require a bit of air to open up.

Rock Wall Wine Co. (where Rosenblum went after "Rosenblum" was sold)

*Saldo ... how come so few people outside the industry understand what Dave Phinney is doing at Orin Swift? And why aren't more people amazed at his business success?

Sausal ... a soft spot in DAH's heart for this small winery.

*Scott Harvey ... great Sierra Foothill wines, great old vines.

Seghesio ... didn't taste here, too crowded.

Sextant ... local SLO Zin specialist.

Steele Wines ... where DAH used to work, when it was Konocti.

*Stephen & Walker ... stylish wines from friends Tony S and Nancy W.

Storybook Mountain.

*Terra d'Oro ... "reserve" brand for Montevina (Trinchero Family) - under-rated wines, IMHO.

The Federalist ... gimmicky, but the label got us to taste it ... and lost us, when they explained that the owner had no family link to Alexander Hamilton.

*Valdez Family ... great wines, nice packaging, and a strangely homey feel to the operation.

Those dozen asterisked brands are worth seeking out!

I'm still wondering how I so readily reduced the 250+ wineries offering tasting to the 30 I thought worthy of our time (before palate fatigue could set in). I feel slightly guilty for giving no time or attention to 220 wineries ...

And it is waaaaayyyy too many months until ZAP 2012's Grand Tasting.

DAH is David Anthony Hance at Zinsite.com and SteampunkWines.com

Red Wine, White Wine, Blue Ocean

Red Wine, White Wine, Blue Ocean.

Randall Grahm. Not writing about Zinfandel. But certainly writing about the world in which I live. As I shared some of this sort of thinking on a recent evening I had to stop myself, and apologize to the target of my rant.

"I'm sorry," said DAH. "I am such a winey uber-geek."

Which inspired another conversation entirely. About uber-geekiness in general.

DAH is David Anthony Hance at Zinsite.com and SteampunkWines.com

Move over Old Spice guy, here comes Zin man

Move over Old Spice guy, here comes Zin man.

Zinfandel - Paso's Wine -- Fun promotion for Paso Robles Zinfest

Watch the video on YouTube ... HERE.

Ridge 2008 Lytton Springs: Classic Zin from a stalwart Zin-specialist. THUMB UP

Ridge Winery began in the Santa Cruz Mountains in 1962. It made its first Zinfandel in 1964, and its first "Geyserville" (Sonoma County) bottling in 1966. It now has wineries in both the Santa Cruz Mountains and in Sonoma County.

Ridge, a bit of a Zin specialist, is one of the famous "Three Rs" of California Zinfandel (Ridge, Ravenswood, Rosenblum … all making Zinfandel a specialty). Ridge is also distinctive in making proprietary wines, rather than just varietal wines. Look at the Ridge 2008 Lytton Springs label: It isn't a varietal Zinfandel (that would require a minimum of 75% Zinfandel). Like other Ridge wines, this is a vineyard blend (all varietals grown together in the same vineyard) bottled under a proprietary name: "Lytton Springs."

This is 74 percent Zinfandel, 21 percent Petite Sirah, and 5 percent Carignane. It's 14.4 percent alcohol … modest, for California Zinfandel these days. The suggested retail price is $35.00.

The aromas have lots of dark cherry and raspberry and are quite extracted, with more pepperiness than many Zinfandels. The nose opens up with aeration, offering riper, rounder character. The flavors add some blackberry character to the fruit found in the aromas, along with a slight malic character and a very firm structure, leading into a modestly earthy finish with hints of vanilla and spice. This is a ripe, full, lush wine, with the alcohol held in check, fine structure, and an appealing finish.
Varietal Information

Ridge has been making Lytton Springs since 1972, and purchased the vineyard in 1991. The Lytton Springs vineyard is on rolling benchland north of Healdsburg in Sonoma County (in the hills separating the Alexander Valley from the Dry Creek Valley). This head trained (no trellis wires) vineyard includes century vine Zinfandel, as well as Petite Sirah, Carignane, Grenache and Mataro (Mourvedre).

This, like all of Ridge's classic collection of Zinfandel vineyard blends, is definitely worth seeking out.

DAH is David Anthony Hance at ZinSite.com and SteampunkWines.com

Over-ripe, Over-oaked, Over-priced Zinfandel. Are You Pro or Con?

"It's time to heal the great Zinfandel divide," writes wine editor Jon Bonné in the Sunday, January 23, 2011, San Francisco Chronicle.

Anticipating ZAP's 20th Annual Zinfandel Festival to be held at San Francisco's Fort Mason January 27-29, Mr. Bonné addresses what he perceives to be the pros and cons of Zinfandel now-a-days.

Generally speaking, this pro-con judgment hinges on three "overs." Mr. Bonné is "con" Zinfandel wines that are over-ripe, over-oaked, and/or over-priced. He is "pro" wines that aren't "over" anything.

You can read the column HERE. It is interesting and entertaining, if you're interested in and entertained by Zinfandel, and this "usual suspects" approach to wine by most wine critics.

Most wine criticism these days (and by "criticism" I do mean when the writer or reviewer is being "critical" of a wine) is about the three "overs" identified above.

This sort of criticism feels to me like the swinging of a pendulum, back and forth every decade or so. I remember when wines "weren't ripe enough" and the wineries that made bigger riper wines were more successful.

Then wines weren't food friendly enough, and wineries began making leaner more acidic wines, presumed to be better with food. Of course, the pendulum swung back and those food wines were condemned for not being ripe enough.

Now we're back in the "over" world, and I expect the pendulum will swing back again. And again. And again. By which time I'll probably be retired (or dead) and no longer worried about wine critics.

In my wine tasting and drinking experience, there have always been a wide range of Zinfandel styles, with the general trend shifting back and forth between lighter/leaner and riper/oakier. And the prices have always been getting higher (although I do find occasional budget delights … and I seek out those great values to write about here).

Mr. Bonné did recommend six Zins he's recently tasted, wines that "treat the grape with proper respect" (his words). I've tasted all these wines, although not necessarily these vintages, and I agree that they are all worthy:

• 2009 Brown Estate Napa Valley Zinfandel ($36)
• 2007 Dashe Cellars Florence Vineyard Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel ($32)
• 2009 Foxglove Paso Robles Zinfandel ($14)
• 2008 Frog's Leap Napa Valley Zinfandel ($27)
• 2008 Ridge Geyserville Sonoma County Red Wine ($35)
• 2008 Seghesio Home Ranch Alexander Valley Zinfandel ($36)

I look forward to tasting lots of great Zins, both "over" and "not-so-over" at the ZAP grand tasting this coming weekend.

DAH is David Anthony Hance at ZinSite.com and SteampunkWines.com

Tomei 2008 Zinfandel: Outstanding Value, Overlooked Wine at Nugget (Davis)

Tomei 2008 Zinfandel, California Shenandoah Valley

There are several "gourmet" groceries I like to shop for wine: Oliver's in Cotati, Molly Stone in Larkspur, and Nugget Market in Davis are three I've enjoyed recently.

I was browsing Nugget's wine selection earlier this week and the fellow working the department asked if he could help me find anything.

DAH: Well, I'm looking for interesting Zinfandels.

Nugget-Guy: This one's great. They only make 500 cases, and the grapes come from the famous Deaver Vineyard.

DAH: Thanks!

Well, the wine he recommended was one I've noticed at Nugget at least a dozen times. Since I don't go there that often, I must have passed over the wine for a couple of vintages. Why? The label and price ($14.99 at Nugget, down from a frontline retail of $18.00) suggested neither great value nor great quality to me.

But the Nugget-Guy's suggestion that I try the wine, and his teaser that the grapes came from the famous Deaver Vineyard (an Amador County classic), got me to buy a bottle.

I'm happy I did. The Tomei 2008 Zinfandel is a potent, extracted, serious wine. Loads of raspberry fruit with oaky-vanilla complexities. Well-structured for current enjoyment or a few years of bottle aging. There's the characteristic sharp, slightly volatile tang that says "Sierra Foothill Zin" to me. There's a little dusty cocoa in the aroma and flavor, and a hint of rhubarb … a fruity, appealingly bitter-astringency … in the finish.

This wine is an outstanding value, but I can tell you little about the winery. I found a website for Tomei Wines that says nothing about current vintages (although it does reference the Deaver Vineyard and Scott Harvey's Vineyard 1869 as the fruit sources for the 2007 vintage). The 2008 wine reports that it is Produced and Bottled by jarvistomei, Napa, CA (14.8% alcohol) … but the website for www.jarvistomei.com wasn't accessible. It sounds like it used to be Tomei parents in charge, but maybe now it's this guy Jarvis and his girlfriend Tomei. I just figure it's some small winery family thing.

Whatever's happening at the winery, this wine is wonderful. Seek it out!

DAH is David Anthony Hance at ZinSite.com and SteampunkWines.com 

Sobon Estate 2009 Amador Old Vine Zinfandel: Fruit-foward, gulpable and chillable

Sobon Estate 2009 Amador County Zinfandel "Old Vines"

This Zinfandel has always been a great value, and it must be successful in the marketplace because its release date has been earlier and earlier over the years. This 2009 vintage wine was available in the market in Fall 2010, only one year after the vintage.

It's ripe and plummy, and a little hot seeming in the nose. (the label reports 14.9% alcohol, the winery tasting notes suggest 14.2%). It is quite ripe, very clean, and fairly short in flavor. It's not a sweet wine, but it has a sweet fruit character, with gentle acidity and soft tannins. The flavors lean towards a dark berry jelly character, as opposed to a ripe jammy character. There's a little earthiness, some black pepper, and a hint of smoke. The heat of the alcohol doesn't transfer from nose to mouth.

This one is all up-front and fruity, very gulpable, and a good candidate for mild chilling for a warm weather BBQ (if you haven't thought about chilling reds for warm weather festivities, you should consider it … just pick fruit driven, not tannic wines). The winery suggests that the wine will reward up to five years of bottle aging, but I wouldn't bother. Drink it up, and enjoy the ripe fruit now.

A good pairing for warm weather grilling, this Zin includes 3% Petite Sirah and was aged in older French and American oak. The older oak must have been fairly neutral in character, for it doesn't lend much oaky character to this wine.

There were 10,160 cases of this wine bottled, so it should be pretty easy to find. Suggested retail is $13.00. I paid $11.99 for 750ml.

Shenandoah Vineyards is in Plymouth, California, in the Sierra Foothills. It was founded in 1977 by Shirley and Leon Sobon (Leon was a Lockheed senior scientist). They established a vineyard and winery in the Shenandoah Valley of Amador County, and created Sobon Estate a decade later, when they purchased the historic D'Agostini winery in 1989. Sobon Estate and Shenandoah Vineyards (they market under both labels) is a family operation, with Leon and Shirley, two sons and a son-in-law working the business. All their wines are fairly priced.

DAH is David Anthony Hance at ZinSite.com and SteampunkWines.com

WSJ ON WINE: The Power and Punch of Zinfandel

Jay McInerney writes about Zinfandel and ZAP (Zinfandel Advocates & Producers) in the January 15, 2011 print edition of the Wall Street Journal.

Check out the article HERE.

It's not really a column about ZAP, although it uses ZAP's 20th anniversary events in San Francisco (January 27-29 ... more information HERE) as a springboard into the story of Zinfandel's rise as a significant red varietal wine from California. Although Zinfandel has a long history in the Golden State, its prominence on wine labels dates pretty much from the 1970s, when winemakers began focusing on old vine versions of the varietal, just as White Zinfandel was being invented by Sutter Home (according to McInerney this was a saignée process ... draining off some red wine juice after only brief contact with the skins, to concentrate the red by increasing the skin to juice ration ... a process that also delivers juice to make a lightly colored pink wine which, in this story of Sutter Home stopped fermenting with some residual sugar and initiated the White Zinfandel phenomena, as a byproduct of a red zinfandel focused production decision).

Sorry about that side-trip. McInerney writes about significant winemakers in the development of California Zinfandel since the 1970s, including discussion of "The Three Rs" -- Ridge, Ravenswood, Rosenblum.

This column is a pretty good primer on the creation of modern Zinfandel, and is well-worth a look if you're interested in getting more context for my favorite grape.

DAH is David Anthony Hance at ZinSite.com and SteampunkWines.com

 

Great price on Rosenblum 2006 St. Peter's Church Vineyard Zinfandel from K & L Wines. See my post at SteampunkWines.com: http://www.steampunkwines.com/?p=221