Drank an '81 Dehlinger at Fight Club and it was outstanding! Great value as well, have had it twice.
Gonna have to invoke the power of the Grammar Police here - “tack” is the word you’re looking for. It’s a sailing term used to describe the position of your vessel in relation to the wind, and it’s been generalized to mean “turn” or “angle”. In this particular context, it means your turn, or take, on the situation.
I drink both young Zin and some with bottle age. Depends on your mood as the flavor profile is night and day. I like recent vintages for exuberant, brambly fruit without heat (when done well). I like older vintages for a more contemplative, claret-like experience.
To me, no other wine tastes like really well-made young Zin, whereas the older profile mimics other varietals a bit. So I guess I’d take the young over the old, if I only had one choice.
If you do age them, look for the obvious candidates who make balanced, structured wines built to last – Ridge, Scherrer, Carlisle (always surprising to me how well they age given the high alcohol levels). Older Joseph Swan bottlings from the '80s can be fun in a Tom Hill kind of way ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
This.
The Bedrock Heritage Zins seem to enjoy some aging, as do some of the Carlisle SVDs. Same seems true with Turley. And yes, Fred makes it easy with all his Scherrer wines.
I’ve had quite a few young Bedrocks and Limerick Lanes in the last couple years and agree that they will certainly benefit from 3-5 years, although they are delicious young.
I have some back into the later 70’s and many mid-80’s and early-90’s still to get to.
I like how they change.
If I had to pick a rule of thumb, they never “go bad” (if stored right,) some age, and many simply find interesting ways to fade.
Also, in general, they seem to consistently bring out cedar/redwood/leather notes as they age, which I like.
One caveat: they also seem to have a period around 10-12 years of age, where the fruit gets a sour fruit thing going on that may put people off, but waiting is the key, not giving up!
I would have to say that i generally dont want them older than about 7 years. There are outliers though.
I had a 1977 Dehlinger at that restaurant we are not allowed to mention last year and it was excellent. I recently drank a Ridge 2000 and a 2001 that I had owned for more than a decade and they were very good, and a 1999 Ridge I had in September was outstanding. I believe they do converge with claret after about 20 years. The 1999 Ridge was moving in that direction.
I would add A. Rafanelli to the list of producers whose zins I enjoy with a few (5-7) years on them. I haven’t had any that were 10+ years old but I still have some 08 in the cellar that isn’t that far away…
All depends on the producer.
One of the greatest Zinfandels I have had, and I have had a million, was the 1988 Dry Creek Old Vine and I think its the addition of Petite Sirah that kept it vibrant and alive, so there’s that…
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1988 Dry Creek Vineyard Zinfandel Old Vine - USA, California, Sonoma County (10/11/2008)
The freshness of this is astounding. The color is a light ruby red with nary a sign of age. Amazing. The nose has great floral bouquet of red roses. There is a fresh red cherry component that is age defying. The palate has a very deftly balanced array of red fruits: Cherries, plums, raspberries and pomegranate. The mouth feel is soft, but assertive, or as assertive as you could ever want from a 20 year old Zinfandel. The label states 83% Zinfandel, and 17% Petite Sirah. I think he PS has kept this one alive. This was aged in American Oak ad there is just the faintest trace of oak toward the finish, just a bit. A long and well structured finish of 2+ minutes completes the perfect package. WOW. Fully matured and holding on nicely, this was a real treat tonight. It has held up better than many 20 year old Cabs I have had within the last year or so. An old timer hitting a homerun. Not bad for $15. (94 pts.)
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Nice. Thank you!
I’ve loved how zins age (at least the ones suitable for aging). But I have to admit, I haven’t set to a program of aging them the way I and others do with wines like Bordeaux and Barolo; most of the times I drink old ones, it’s because I found old bottles at retail or auction.
Zin is one of those things like riesling, where we should be aging them, but between the cost per bottle and how well they drink young and middle aged, few of us really devote the cellar space and use the discipline to store them and hold them for that long.
I’ve had a few Zins that aged nicely, but generally, no. Additionally, it’s hard to find a great Zin worth waiting that long for.
You’re quite welcome! Glad you diidn’t take offense as none was intended.
Crazy as it may seem, I like it when people correct my misuse of words.
King Zin
I have opened a couple so far because I love Monte Rosso and this is a good one but I do believe this is going to be better in another year. I also seemed to like the Ravenswood Monte Rosso at 5-6 years of age and this seems like it may be the same if not more of an ager
I had a couple 10 year old Turley SVDs within the last month or so that were holding up just fine and might go another 10 no problem.
I think a part of the issue is that, of those of us who enjoy Zins, the features we like about them do not tend to improve or evolve with age. This is far from universal and I wouldn’t dream of drinking my Bedrock Zins inside of 5 years. It’s not just a “big fruity wine” thing either, just a peculiarity with this particular grapge.
Pretty much exclusively, since I pretty much only buy ones that are age worthy.
A friend had an old Zin themed birthday this year. About 20 bottles from 1935 to early '80s. Nothing dead, several were pretty amazing.
Now if we can just get people to stop abusing the lowly apostrophe by adding it to their plurals. The plural of wine is not wine’s. The plural of Brunello is not Brunello’s. The plural of Zin is not Zin’s.
Phil Jones