Nalle Zin DryCreekVlly/SonomaCnty (13.5%; AmazingZin) Healdsburg 1990: Ullaged below the shoulder; cork dropped into btl under the AhSo; med.dark color w/ some bricking; strong cedary/pencilly/cigar box/oldZin light raspberry/blackberry/Zinberry/bit spicy bit tired nose; fairly tart strong cedary/pencilly/oldZin light raspberry/Zinberry/spicy bit tangy/metallic slight horsecollar/bretty rather complex oldZin flavor w/ light somewhat drying tannins; very long rather tangy/drying/metallic quite cedary/pencilly/cigar box/old Zin slight blackberry/Zin somewhat tired/drying out some bretty/barnyardy/horsecollar finish w/ light drying/astringent tannins; still offers up a bit of pleasure and not totally shot or oxidized; mostly of intellectual interest and nice trip down memory lane.
A wee BloodyPulpit:
I, of course, followed DougNalle from the very start when he got a great review in Charlie&Earl’s CGCW. In the late '80’s, Doug came to my group & we tasting thru some of his older Zins. He could never quite understand why anyone would want to age his Zins.
I put him up at my house and he absolutely charmed the socks off my young daughter. I still get Rebecca a btl of Nalle Zin every once in awhile just for old-time’s sake. It was amusing that Doug travelled with his own pillow because he was attached to it I guess.
Tom
Doug is a great guy and deserves a lot of credit in the world of Zin. George Bush also traveled with his own pillow and I don’t blame him. How many times do you check in to a hotel where all the pillows are too big/small? My question why you would age this wine 28 years…was it forgotten somewhere??
Nalle was the first wine I had delivered to my house from a winery. That was right around the vintage you drank. I followed the wine makers advice and did not age them. Wish I would have aged them some. Have always loved his wines. Really enjoyed his recent wine at a tasting. Thanks for the little story.
I’ve followed Doug from “almost the very start,” i.e. when he was the Quivara winemaker; sat around a big table in the upstairs of the winery sampling wines. He also used to come to Arizona for Spring Training baseball and we’d get together with wines he brought. Not quite sure when he started Nalle Winery, probably around 1989? I think his son is pretty much in charge these days and may have changed the style a bit to more fruit forward and alcoholic.
Aged Nalle zins are great ringers for Italian tastings. I don’t think I’d hold them 28 years, but they can go out a ways and take on characteristics of Italian wines.
Nalle wines have all but disappeared in Las Vegas. They are probably a tough sell in restaurants with the required mark up. People aren’t looking to drop a lot of $ on a zin. The overall winery production may be down a bit as well. Doug was making a little pinot and chard; not sure if his son is continuing with those.