My "Worst" Wine of The Year": 2008 Earthquake Zin Lodi Appellation

WINE TALK
1

Bore no resemblance to any decent zinfandel I have ever enjoyed. Extraordinarily hot (16 percent alcohol), candied and syrupy. Like a sweet liquor. Thick as motor oil. Lavished in spicey oak, kicking off some odd fall-season flavors like vanilla, nutmeg, acorns. Just odd.

I’m not sure how I would score a wine like this, but I guess sub-70 seems about right. I drank 1/3 of a glass, going back and forth to see whether anything developed. Eventually poured it down the sink, inconspicuously (at a host’s house, nonetheless!). The irony is that a retailer told my friend it drank like a Ridge! [scratch.gif]

Caveat Emptor.

2

My brother-in-law loves the Petite Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon from Earthquake. I think they’re ok, but kind of over-extracted and “jammy” for me. I’ve never had the Zin.

3

The wood treatment on these wines are beyond belief. [bleh.gif]

4

Earthquake, especially the Zin, are huge sellers at retail, FWIW. Yes, the seem to represent the epitome of taking things over the top, but people love that. dc.

5

It’s a zin equivalent of Rosenblum Chardonnay.

6

The Rosenblum zin is one of the worst wines of all, even more out of bounds on the sugaryness than their chardonnay.

7

Confucius say: he who likes Joguet, wastes his money on oversized Lodi Zin [wink.gif]

I don’t mean that as an indictment of Lodi on the whole, just that at this price and given the emphasis on destructive forces of nature, odds favor some massive, unbalanced wine designed for impact.

On the flip side, this is a good wine for finding people to add to my Ignore User list on CT. Anyone giving this a 90+ score is not going to be writing notes that help me 95% of the time. If they love this, fine by me. Their palates just exist in a far different place . . . .

8

I’m not familiar with Lodi wine outside of a Turley old vine Zinfandel called “Dogtown”, which I find enjoyable.

There are a few historic vineyards in the Lodi area, and I assume some interesting wines. I need to explore.

9

Touche! Good thing I did not buy that thing. I wish I remembered - or perhaps I should be glad I expunged the memory - the vintage of Rombauer Zin that was hands-down the worst Zin I ever had. By the way, I did not particularly like the 2008 Turley Juvenile either. I guess I just like my wimpy Ridge Zin . . . . :wink:

10

Don’t buy the Juvies myself Robert, but I sure agree with you on those Ridge Zins!

11

Hmmmmm…which one, Chris??? Rosenblum makes a large tableau of Zins…though none from Lodi.
Tom

12

Mike,
The Lodi wines are worth exploring. There are some pretty old (mostly Zin) vnyds over there, but you, of course, already knew that.
KenZinns has a good report on http://www.grape-nutz.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; on his visits to Lodi. It use to be the source of a lot of pretty dreadful plonk,
but there are actually some pretty interesting & well-made wines coming out of Lodi. Probably the best I’ve had is JonBjork’s Pantheon
Syrah…about as good as any. They have, in the recent past, established 7 AVA’s over in the cooler eastern part of Lodi, where it
starts to rise up into the Sierra Foothills. Especially w/ Spanish varieties and especially w/ the whites. AdamWebb’s Odisea label,
made up in Napa, are consistently some of the best.
The new Lodi wines are worth checking out. It ain’t just Woodbridge anymore.
Tom

13

Oh ! Lord, I’m stuck in Lodi again.
Oh ! Lord, I’m stuck in Lodi again.

14

W of Lodi in The Delta there is glorious PS & Verdelho being grown. EQ is forgettable in nearly every vintage. As mentioned above I use this wine like a marker, similar to when folks tell me they love The Prisoner.

15

My bad, I read your post to be Rombauer Chardonnay, not Rosenblum, and then I somehow compounded the error in my reply. Damn all those zinfandel producers who start with R. Anyways, I was intending to comment on the Rombauer chardonnay and zin.

16

Jessie’s Grove is very worthy. The Royal Tee old vine Zin was the best I tasted in Lodi. We did not purchase at Earthquake.

17

At one time Lodi was considered an area for crap wine. Sometime after the high alc fruit-forward wines (esp zins) got popular so did that hot-ass region.

There are probably some good wines from there now, but I try Lodi wines infrequently and haven’t found anything memorable.

18

Speaking of which, Mike, have you tried the '08 Ridge East Bench? I have not, but a local retailer gets it in stock tomorrow and it is priced at $20.99. A buddy of mine grabbed their last case last week, before the next deliver comes in, and truly raved about it. I have not had this 100% zin offering before.

19

Robert, I can’t help with the East Bench, but I’m guessing that others members here can. Sounds like an excellent price.

20

When you see a wine labeled “Rombauer presents: The Earthquake Prisoner White Zinfandel,” it’s time to stock up on canned goods and ammo.