I drink lots of Zin and not too much Cab, but I’d drink Bougetz Cellars Eminence Napa Cab (BerserkerDay wine) ahead of any Zin. BD price was under $40 and I think normal case price is under $50.
Sure, what you feel like drinking is important, but most times, I’d take the Zin. I would actually rather drink a $25 Zin than a $45 Napa Cab because I think a well chosen example of the former is better wine than any example of the latter.
Yes I agree with this. I can’t think of an expensive Zin that I have liked. Usually they are the super ripe over extracted ones.
Now this is my opinion only. I don’t have much access to high end Zin where I live. Of course I love Turley, Sheerer and Ridge but they hardly ever reach $45, do they?
You should do yourself a favor and try Limerick-Lane single vineyard/block zins.
I have Rich, at the winery. I found them to be way to extracted. Of course it was after a long day of tasting mostly Pinot Noir. Although I did like all of the other wines at Limerick Lane. I will keep my mind open though.
You can get some very nice, high quality Sonoma Cabs for under $45, forget Napa in that price range. Some are pure, clean Cab, some with more Bordeaux-like complexities.
Expand your horizons.
Welp…i guess you and I can’t be friends then 
On a serious note, I’m surprised you found them too extracted if you’re a Turley fan. Granted Tegan has toned things back and they’re not the monsters they used to be…but they’re still no ‘delicate flower’, so to speak. Maybe it was the prior pinot, or maybe they’re just not your bag. But LL is pretty much the only zin that I pay over $55 for, as I do enjoy em and find them to be special bottles of wine (plus…jake seems like a good dude. And on a side note…the labels are bad-ass).
+1 for the Zin. That price point for me is extremely hit or miss for California Cabernets, but at that price, Zins are typically top quality.
I’m on Team Zin at this price point. $45 Zin = $60 Cab IMO.
I would say the same thing about Syrah, for the record.
Agreed man. Though I might be Inclined to push it to $45 zin = $150 cab. Or at best, $100 cab for a select few top cabernet producers.
Yeah, you can find some ‘nice’ ones…but if you enjoy both zins and cabs (which I thankfully do), do you think it’s even a close comparison in the quality and overall enjoyment you can get from a $45 zin compared to a $45 Sonoma (or elsewhere) cab? I definitely do not…but maybe I’m just more of a zin guy overall.
I enjoy both zins and cabs, but to Joe’s point, the zins I like are mostly in the $20-$40 range (Carlisle, Bedrock, Scherrer), whereas the (mostly Napa) cabs I enjoy are more like $60-100. Having said that, if I am in the mood for a cab, or it works with my meal I drink it and don’t think about whether it’s a special occasion or worth the price. But I do find myself reaching into my zin stash for more often.
Ironically the Sonoma cab in that price range that I’d reach for is from one of my favorite Zin producers - Scherrer. But as my red buying has tapered off I’m not buying much current release anything red.
Not sure I could push it that far, but there’s wiggle room. Also, perhaps I was thinking of a few favorite $60 range Cabs like RM, Myriad, Outpost, etc. and those may be outliers for the price (see also the $60 cab thread).
The “average” $60 cab certainly doesn’t compete with most of the $45 Zins that I drink.
I’m in some portion of agreement here. I think at about $70 I can find a few Cabs I want to drink just as much as the $40 Zins. At about $100 I have a lot of Cabs I really enjoy and I would have to be in a really Zin mental place to drink the Zin over the Cab.