First post - I’ve been enjoying reading this forum and I’m learning that I don’t know nearly as much about wine as I thought I did…
These are notes from a tasting I held a couple weeks ago. The theme was California field blends, including wines in the spirit of the field blend: single vineyard old vine zins, and field blend styled wines from multiple vineyards, in general old vine zin/pets/carignane/alicante bouchet/etc.
The setup was 4 couples, each brings 1-2 bottles totaling up to $60. Part of that idea was to compare wines of similar styles across different price points.
The wines were all decanted through an aeration device and tasted blind.
Wine #1 – Dark ruby, cherries, red fruits, strong peppery component… Nice acidity to balance the fruit. Long finish. 91 pts Revealed: 2005 Rosenblum Zinfandel Monte Rosso $41
My comments: Rosenblum? An old favorite of me and my wife, from maybe 15 years ago, but I have a distinct memory sometime in the past 5 years, tasting through a flight of Rosenblum Zins where the 3rd straight glass of cherry jolly rancher caused me to set my glass down and say, “I’ve had enough of these guys.” A friend and I had both tasted Ravenswood Old Hill earlier in the week and we were both dead sure this was the same wine. A change of style at Rosenblum, or does Monte Rosso trump the winemaker’s style?
Wine #2 – Light ruby, lighter at edges. More pepper, spices, red fruits, silky smooth texture. Short on the finish. 88 pts Revealed: 2004 Ledson RRV Old Vine Zin $NA
My comments: Most zin is consumed at our house in the first 5 years of life, but this was quite pleasant and drinking very well.
Wine #3 – Light purple, plum, cherries, leather. Apparent oak, then it just dies on the finish with tannin and some heat. 84 pts Revealed: 2007 Three Wine Company Old Vines (40% Zinfandel, 33% Carignane, 12% Mataro, 11% Petite Sirah, 2% Alicante Bouschet, and 2% Black Malvoisie) $18
My comment: Matt Cline’s project from the old Contra Costa vineyards, a little disappointing, not as approachable young as Cline. Maybe this shows better in a couple years?
Wine #4 – Dark ruby, plums, cedar, leather, very smooth, finishing with oak and cherries. 89 pts. Revealed: 2006 Bogle Phantom (49% Zinfandel, 49% Petite Sirah, 2% Mourvedre) $16
My comment: A surprise wine, very approachable and enjoyable, great QPR. I marked it down a little for the apparent oak, but the cheapest wine at the tasting and on the group’s average, the highest score of the night.
Wine #5 – Light ruby, earthy, mushroom scents on the nose, then cherries, tannin and alcoholic heat. 85 points Revealed: 2007 Ravenswood Old Hill (76% Zin 24% mixed blacks) $60
My comment: So this was the Ravenswood Old Hill. It seemed to show much better earlier in the week. Did it need more air to open up? Or did blind tasting remove the expectations? I’d like to think the former, but maybe a bit of both. If I had any more I’d lay them down for a few years, but I don’t and I’m not convinced of the $60 price point on this one.
Wine #6 – Dark purple. Intense purple berries, pepper, smoke, very smooth, long finish. 90 pts. Revealed: 2003 Ridge Independence School (88% Zin 9% Carignane 3% Petite Sirah) $25 ATP
My comment: Another older zin showing very nicely.
Wine #7 – Strong dark cocoa on the nose, with red berries. Chocolate covered cherries, leather, licorice… racy acidity carries into a long and evolving finish. 92 pts Revealed: 2008 Bedrock Heirloom (40% Zinfandel, 30% Carignane, 40% mixed blacks) $35
My comment: My WOTN but also the most controversial wine for the group. People had this either at the top or bottom of their lists. Also the youngest in the group. I had a talk with Morgan Twain-Peterson about this tasting and he told me since doesn’t rack until bottling his wines are even more primary when young, and he expects the drinking window on this wine to fall in the 5-7 years range.
A couple surprises - the Bogle Phantom was a crowd pleaser and the least expensive in the tasting. Zins in the 5-7 year range all showed pretty well, and the 2-3 year range either didn’t show well, or were controversial, which flies in the face of our typical wisdom when it comes to zin.