TN: 1994 Edmunds St. John Zinfandel, Amador County

WINE TALK
1

13.7% alcohol?!? Cork was in perfect condition, and as soon as it came out of the bottle, floral sweet cherries filled the air. In the glass, color is a cloudy red cherry and more cherries tickle my nose along with some lavender and road tar. At fifteen years old, this wine is still very much alive in the mouth - road tar and charred oak takes center stage, followed by dried cherries and a touch of tobacco leaf. Finish is long and stunning - driven by the still vibrant acid backbone.

Wow! I knew ESJ made some serious syarh, but their older Zinfandel is fantastic! This is farther along than I would expect a Ridge Lytton or Geyserville of the same age to be, but this wine still has plenty of life left.

2

Didn’t know ESJ made Zin…

3

wonder which vineyard he sourced Zin from?

4

I know in '01, Steve made Zin from Brandlin Ranch in Napa. No idea about '94.

5

Nothing about specific vineyards on the bottle. Looking at CT, it looks like ESJ did a “Story” zin from Mendocino county in 1993/4/5, but there is no info about this wine.

In fact, there is no other info that ESJ ever made Zin from Amador Co. This bottle came into Benchmark as a part of a private collection. I was able to snag it out of a box of question marks - stuff that’s obscure and/or most likely over the hill.

6

There is a Story vineyard in Amador and I believe this is the source for this wine. Hopefully Steve will chime in to confirm.

7

He’s made a few zinfandels over the years. I think his Story vineyard zin was from Amador.

-Al

8

Oops, your fingers are quicker!

-Al

9

CT says Story was Mendocino - see here:
1994 Edmunds St. John Zinfandel Story, USA, California, North Coast, Mendocino County - CellarTracker" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

10

I think that entry is a mistake…

11

Story Vineyard & Winery is on Bell Rd in Plymouth. owned by nice folks, Jan and Bruce Tichenor.

12

Interesting… Then this may have been declassified fruit from Story…

Here is a shot of the label:

13

Very cool Mike! When we meet next for a tasting…I expect some crazy stuff like that from you! Nice perk with the new job! [thumbs-up.gif]

14

Have to agree with Buzz on the perks of the new job!!! Nice find, Mike!!!

15

Don’t think the Zin fruit was any sort of lesser fruit from Story. Forget the story as Steve told it, though. But it was from StoryVnyd fruit out there on BellRd.
Just a one shot deal, I believe.
There have been a few pretty good Story Zins in the mid-late '70’s. They also occasionally made a Mission from very old vines, but I believe all their old vines are now gone.
Tom

16

Who’s Edmonds?

newhere

17

Ha! That’s my mistake. [oops.gif]

18

Indeed, our procurement team doesn’t cherry-pick so we see quite a few oddities when new collections come in. I’ll be sure to bring some interesting stuff next time around!

19

I’m proud to say that the wine being discussed here received a rating of 74 points (if I recall correctly) in the Wine Advocate, back in the Summer of '96.
I was especially enthused to being making Zinfandel from Amador grapes in '94 and '95, when there was very little raisining in the fruit, and the beautiful Amador spiciness held forth so nicely. I like the '95 even better than the '94, and I think it’s because I’d had an extra year to practice, and did a little better job.
With respect to '01, Larry, it was Peay Vineyard, not Brandlin.

20

Steve, you made both Syrah and Zin from Peay in '01? Hmm, wonder why I thought it was Brandlin for the Zin. Perhaps, we had a conversation about Brandlin Zin and my feeble mind later equated that with the '01 vintage. [scratch.gif]