TN: 2016 Fogline Vineyards Zinfandel Rocky Ridge Vineyard

WINE TALK
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  • 2016 Fogline Vineyards Zinfandel Rocky Ridge Vineyard - USA, California, Sonoma County, Rockpile (2/19/2021)
    Excellent wine. Super opaque in the glass with weight. Needs some air time, 2 - 3 hours. Lush nose, dark red fruits, bramble-y greens, vanilla sugar wafers underneath, slight cedar. Palate is big, potent raspberry and I get Brig’s pomegranate notes, nice tart mouthfeel. Medium acidity and tannin back seat to the fruit. Lengthy finish. Its not a timid wine, not chewy, maybe a brooding elegance, everything plays nice together. Well enjoyed and has some runway if you want to lay it down but why wait. Nice work Evan.

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Thanks Rich.

We were excited to be able to get into Rocky Ridge and make some wine from there. Chris Mauritson does a phenominal job getting us excellent fruit to work with. It surely has a specific flavor profile compared to a lot of other Rockpile and Northern Dry Creek wines. I had tried several Biale Rocky Ridge and Bella wines in the past and when he came in to offer fruit, we (Brent and I) nearly bit his hand off. To give more information than needed, even though I came from Zinfandel in my drinking history, I make wines in the PN methodology, taking after my training through friends at WS. AFA runway, the structure is really important to me for balance and longevity. I hope that the Zins we make will be enjoyed decades later. I have talked to Barry Lawrence(one of the original Sonoma Coast backers) as we get Syrah from his vineyard, and he is drinking 70s zins now that are wonderful. One can hope.

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I had the 2016 Grist zinfandel last night from my BD package. Very nice wine. Need to reorder

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I am drinking this wine tonight and enjoying it very much. It is penetrating, fruit-forward and mouth-filling now, maybe a little one-note, with the red Pomegranate profile mentioned upthread; maybe a bit of white pepper poking through. To borrow from everyone’s most trusted critic, this wine could be described now as hedonistic. It is quite enjoyable, and I think it would make an excellent compliment to grilled red meats. On the other hand, there is structure to the wine, and I think it will reveal more complexity over time – i.e., several years. I bought three of these from a BD offer, and I plan to resist the hedonistic pleasure this wine gives now for at least three or four more years to see what a little time does for the other two.

I guess we’ll see if that happens.