Wondering how much Zin really changes over its drinking window since they aren’t typically know for aging. Most of my decent Zins have a drinking window starting at 2 years after the vintage and lasting around 10 years. Wondering how much, if any, benefit there is in waiting for the middle of the window.
Cheers.
I think I am an outlier, but we still drink zin back to the early ‘70’s.
This calls for a trip to Wine Searcher or Winebid to back fill and see what you think!
Philip I think as with most wines it comes down to the producer as well as your personal preferences. My preference in general for wines is towards wines with age, that show tertiary characteristics. That said I also love Zinfandel, and it’s one of the few reds that I can really enjoy young (as long as it’s not overly-ripe/overtly-oaked. Something about a nice balanced Zin that shows off the “bramble” really gets me going.
But I have also enjoyed Zins that have age and have evolved. For example old Ridge Gesyervilles. I was at Amphora, in Sonoma, several years ago and saw a 2002 Zin in their library. It had retained some of its Zin characteristics but had also started to meld into aged Bordeaux territory, which I thought was really cool, so I picked up a case on the cheap, since not many others appreciate that.
One of my favorite Zins is Talty in Dry Creek. Straight out of the gate they have too much oak for me, but after 5-6 the oak starts to resolve. The 13s and 14s still show a bit more oak than I’d like but an ‘09 I had a couple weekends ago was absolutely singing- perfect balance, still tasted fresh, but the oak was integrated.
Once and Future is another one that intrigues me. Knowing how long Joel’s old Ravenswood Zins went, I’m curious how long these will go. I found the ‘16s open for business after just a couple months of cellaring and have had to force myself to keep my hands off them. I’m going to keep a handful from each vintage so I can see how they evolve.
I’ve had several opportunities to taste very old (20-25 year +) Ravenswood Zins and I’m always stunned at how well they have aged. Same goes for Ridge Geyservilles and Lyttons. Well made Zins (which are also often approachable young) have a very long drinking window.
Obviously, the Ridges are famous for aging well.
One key factor for zins, I think, is the alcohol level. If that’s very high, it tends to become more conspicuous with age.
Yep. Totally depends on the producer. Had a 1995 Martinelli two nights ago. Syrupy, sweet, slightly oxidizing, lots the bright fruit and simply retained the sugar and alcohol.
And I’ve had other Zins that are transformed entirely, but that are still good wine at 30 years.
We gotta get you to Chico.
About 5 years ago I poured 3 1995 zinfandels at one of our blind wine dinners. the Ridge Lytton Springs and the Scherrer had aged beautifully. The Turley - not so much.
Interesting and good to know about the Turley and probably in line with the above comment about high alcohol Zins possibly not aging well. I’m a Turley fan and like some of their high octane offerings but they never seem to stay around long enough for me to sample at an older age.
Yep, some tasting notes indicated that Geyserville Zins tend to drink more like a Claret when nearing a decade in the cellar. Not sure if true across the board, but it did motivate me to drink some of my Zins sooner than later.
The Lytton Springs, too.
Frankly, I prefer them younger when they are more distinctly zin-like. But that’s a matter of personal taste. They do age gracefully for a long time, well past a decade generally.
1997 Geyserville and Lytton Springs are both amazing now.
I had each in December.
I love them aged but also enjoy them fairly young… my definition of young being 3-4 years. To me the ones that age take on an elegance which can be amazing. My problem with aging them is keeping my hands off. I try to hold some Geyserville, Lytton Springs and some Carlises to the 10 year mark.
Wine making and vineyard source are much more important than grape variety in the vast majority of cases.
I personally haven’t had much luck with anything that was 100% zin and over 10 years old. It certainly loses the spice and pepper that I equate with it in its youth but doesn’t add that much more depth and morphs into a cheaper Cab/left bank Bordeaux of the same age. It does have acid, resolved tannins, and plenty of fruit but somehow always seems soft with at most a medium finish that just isn’t transcendental–and that’s not what I want in a zin. That said, zin blends where it’s even the predominant grape, seem to age great. Lytton Springs and Bedrock Heritage blends being prime examples. Lytton Springs is a blend of Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Carignane, and Mataro.
I’m with Josh. It can age; I like it way better young.
A few yeas ago we did an old Zin themed birthday party. Well over a dozen Zins from 1935 to early eighties, a few each from the '50s and '60s, with a bunch of '70s. Different producer for each wine. Don’t recall any being dead. A few weren’t great, but most were excellent to stunning.
Note that most Zins are field blends, where some of the other grapes can lend a lot of structure to aid aging.
I think there is probably some correlation there, but in the last few years, I have had a few early 1990s Williams Selyem zins, listed at high 15% range, that aged gorgeously too.
As with Bordeaux and other wines, the overripe ones with low acid and tannin probably don’t age well, but you’ll have some well-made and balanced wines from good vineyards which come in at higher alcohol %s but still age very nicely.
Did a tasting with Fred Scherrer in July 2017. Asked him in advance if he could include a Zin with some age. He opened an 05 OMV Zin. If it was served blind I would probably have guessed Bordeaux blend. I hadn’t ordered my futures that year and picked up what I could while there. When I came home I promptly buried the rest of my Scherrer Zins in the back of my cellar.
Notes…?