Wines bottled as Zinfandel are massively diverse and are difficult to ‘nutshell.’ Hence, the confusion about ‘what is Zinfandel, really?’ Some are made to be at their best young, while others have varied degrees of latency and aging potential (not just to ‘hold up’, but to actually gain interesting notes over time).
Aging ability (which I think is primarily a function of oxygen appetite) is strongly tied to style, and these stylistic components act independently. 1. Ripeness level can have an inverse effect on both pH (affecting rate of oxidative reactions), and oxygen appetite which is a huge factor in ability to age gracefully. 2. Inclusion of higher tannin (and/or lower pH) varieties such as are found in many field blends can add a significant oxygen appetite and slower oxidative rates to the blend due to lower pH. 3. Reductive vs oxidative winemaking (racking frequently, lees contact, etc.) can preserve or squander that oxygen appetite.
Huge Ridge fan here, as theyre my local benchmark winery. With so many other Ridge fans here, ive had countless oddball Zins of theirs, plus multiple verticals of Geyserville and Lytton Springs, and single verticals of others. Yes, they reliably age very well.
Separately, one esteemed older friend had an old Zin themed party, that was basically “bring your best, oldest bottle.” I think i mentioned this on here recently, but we had at least one from every decade, starting with the '35 Simi. Most were '60s and '70s. One noob brought an '82 No repeat producers. Just a couple bottles were tired, the rest vibrant and very good, a few stunning.
At Harrington we sourced Zeni Ranch in the Mendocino Highlands for a couple vintages. I saw Ridge had sourced that in the '70s, but have never seen a bottle. There was at least one SVD. i asked Paul about it and he went on to talk about how he loved sourcing from the Mendocino Highlands growers and what characters they were. Bryan Harrington had met George Zeni and been to the place before he became a winemaker, and was charmed. Otherwise, hed probably never had made a commercial Zin. Back to the topic, i found several vintages of Edmeades Zeni Ranch Zin ('80s & '90s). I’d heard a little not too positive about their wines, but had to try, anyway. I’m guessing they were “big” young, but what I’ve opened have been fantastic. They sourced from a couple other vineyards there. Worth taking a flyer if you see any on winebid for cheap.
This may well have been the best Zinfandel I have ever tasted aside from some well preserved Swan and Ridge. Poured it at Dava and my wedding celebration in ‘14.
Finally able to come up for air and contribute to this great thread! Totally late to the party and not much else to add to all the great commentary (When Fred Scherrer posts on zin it’s pretty much a mic-drop!), but I’ll pile on. Zinfandel can most definitely age well, and while I’m (clearly) a big fan personally, I will say that the tricky part with older zin is that it can be much more variable than other grapes. As in, sometimes they turn claret-like (this happens fairly often I would say), other times they can retain the fruit/freshness but with the addition of secondary characteristics…and sometimes they just completely fall apart. I enjoy/appreciate both, and while it’s harder to predict what an older bottle of zinfandel will turn into, producer/region/vintage, in my experience, play a huge role. Possibly even more so than other varieties.
If the OP is looking for a good example, while there is definitely no ‘sure thing’, I would say that Ridge is the closest thing to it. It’s almost always a treat to pop one - both regular zins and late harvest/picked. And while the prices have gone up significantly over the past 5 to 10 years, you can still find deals if you look hard enough. Case in point:
1973 Ridge Geyserville
My other favorites (many have already been mentioned) for older zins include:
-Carneros Creek Winery (this is actually my favorite next to Ridge)
-Mayacamas (1968 Late Harvest is a top 3 wine for me, but it is almost impossible to find now. I have 2 left but not sure when I’ll open them since this wine will live forever).
-Swan
-Louis Martini (60’s and 70’s…MAYBE through mid 80’s)
-Fetzer (single vineyards from the 70’s can be amazing!)
-Sutter Home (1974 Special Select is FIRE!! Have one 3-liter left!)
And last but not least…the best part about aged zinfandel is that it surprise you in the best ways possible. Here is, arguably, the greatest older zin that I’ve ever had…from a producer that nobody knows really anything about, even the great @TomHill
Opened this one tonight. I bought three at release intending to see how they would age.
Despite a disastrous cork, this was a good wine. Dark berry fruit that does show a hint of porty character now, underbrush, light spice, high acids. Amazingly listed at 16.5% but no heat or fumes at all. I would have guessed 14.8%.
I wouldn’t say claret — maybe might pass for a Super Tuscan or modern Douro at middle age with the purple fruit and high acids.
Not awesome, but a good wine, nice pairing with Flannery rib eye and some college basketball.
We buy a lot of Ridge, Carlisle and Rafanelli Zinfandel, and used to buy some of the Ravenswood Single Vineyards back in the day. IMO, all of these age quite well, especially the Ridge Geyserville and the older Ravenswood’s from the 80’s and early 90’s. The real question for the OP is whether they are looking for the abundance of fruit in the young wines or the complexity that a few years of bottle age can bring. Buy a few, drink some and age some.
On a bit of a side note, I think you can throw a dart at a 2021 Zin and you will find a wonderful wine to drink. I don’t know how they will age, but every one I have tried has been excellent.
I had that 02 Pagani six years ago and it was solid, and much more youthful at the time compared to the other two Ridge LH’s next to it (which makes sense because the other two were physically older, ha!).
Brief Notes - part of a larger blind tasting. In a Ridge late harvest/picked flight with a 95 Pagani, and 77 Geyserville, this was the groups WOTF, although I preferred the 77. Showing the most youthful of the 3, with deep blackberry notes, a nice mellow sweetness, and a long finish. Alcohol and oak well integrated and drinking nicely.
What is the hit and miss ratio for Zins that are 20 years and older? How producer dependent is it? For example, I just bought some 1999 Turley Old Vine, but it has not yet arrived. Am I playing the odds and is it a coin flip whether I’ll be pleased or disappointed?
Nothing new to add here but will just share my own experience. I think Zin is extremely ageworthy, though I have a pretty low tolerance for bad aged Zin and find that lesser examples can dry out and become thin and acidic with age. I think this is true even for less age worthy bottlings from better producers. Which is which can be hard to tell without trying. Fortunately, most of these wines are very affordable.
Producers that have had bottling a from the 90s show well in the last couple years:
Swan
Hartford
Seghesio
Ridge
Turley
Rafanelli
Ravenswood
I can also add to Blake’s comment about Burt-era Williams Selyem zins: the more recent zins are also aging well. I’ve had examples from the early 2000s to early 2010s that were all showing nice trajectories. That said, I think Jeff’s zins are so riveting when young that it’s a shame to let them mellow out too much. 4-8 years is my sweet spot for those.
The big unknown is provenance. Many more misses than hits in the secondary market because people usually put their old bottles up for bids when they open one and find it’s no longer enjoyable. Not because that particular bottle doesn’t age well but because it wasn’t always stored well. Be picky where you source them so use someone you trust. Some sources guarantee provenance while others don’t. It’s caveat emptor. Fine wine retailers will sometimes get offered cellars when the owner passes away and the heirs don’t want the wine. Let the retailers know you are interested in these kinds of purchases and you’ll sometimes get dibs before they go out to a full mailing list.
No repeat producers. Just a couple bottles were tired, the rest vibrant and very good, a few stunning.
as most well handled ones are.