TN: 2004 Cabot Vineyards Zinfandel "Tributary" Humboldt County

Perfect cork and fill, decanted for an hour, consumed over 24hrs, purchased during BerzerkerDay 17 (2025)

Deep color, completely opaque, maybe a faint hint of bricking belying the more than 20 years of age here.

Nose is consistent with palate

Palate is lively and full, entering with fresh bing cherry, sandalwood, and getting into more cedar, leather, and pie cherries. Closes with a bunch of grip, earthy and plum compote driven. This is balanced well to show now but held up perfectly to day 2. Despite that, I’m not sure this will get better despite the deep, opaque color and full body and tannin. I have a suspicion the fruit might run out of gas before the rest of the structure, but are you really going to complain that your 20+ y/o Zin is quite good right now, isn’t going anywhere soon, and maybe doesn’t get better with significantly more age? This is excellent wine in a really fun place.

@John_Cabot Bravo! Thank you for sharing these. Obviously all of your reds hold up well, which is partially the fruit quality, not going overboard on ripeness, and the terroir, but do you think your winemaking process contributes to the excellent aging curve your wines show? Anything you think really helps them hold up well like this?

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What Brad said

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Well this is the internet so go right ahead

Thanks for the note and kind words Brad. Not sure if i can attribute any of my winemaking techniques to the agebility and structure to the wines. Zin is well suited to these mountains. It continues to show unique character and balance here. Aging in older French barrels allows the fruit and terroir to shine… IMHO.

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This 04 Trib will be offered again this year for berserkerday.

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