TN: A bunch of Zin and Grenache

WINE TALK
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Last night I ventured over to my friend Mike P’s home for a tasting. Mike had some older Zin’s that he wanted to taste thru. The rest of us brought some Grenache. The wines were consumed blind in two flights over four hours. There was plenty of food to enjoy with the wines. As a general rule, I thought the ZIns were the weaker flight. They were not over the hill, but would have been better to drink by themselves than in a flight perhaps. Especially as there were some younger Zins there too. The Grenahces proved interesting as the Alto Moncayos took top honors for me. It would have been interesting to have some more Southern Rhone representation. It was a very fun tasting and great to do. The conversation did often get back to the economy though. I wonder how many wine tastings are dominated by those thoughts these days.

We started with two whites:

2006 Hexamer Quartzit Meddersheimer RheinGraffenberg
Yellow gold in color, clear and bright. The nose has some pineapple which gave way to grapefruit and rocks. Quite pleasant. On the palate, this is cloying. Mono-dimensional. Not to say it is bad, but it would be better on a hot summer day, served chilled. 50+3+12+15+4=84

1996 Plumpjack Chardonnay Reserve
Badly oxidized. I am curious why this went bad. I would not have expected this to be young, but this was a goner. Mike has another bottle; I will be curious how this shows. NR

The Zinfandel flight:
1997 Ravenswwood Zinfandel Dickerson Vineyard
Purple/ruby in color, shimmering bright. Very pretty for an “older” wine. The nose is dominated by Alcohol. Dave and Charlie called it Glycerol, I thought it turpentine. Roland suspected this wine developed a yeast film during production and was flawed from the start. Either way, the fumes carried thru to the palate. NR.

1999 Martinelli Zinfandell Jackass Vineyard
I have not been a huge Matrinelli fan in the past. Mike had actually opened one of these before and it was corked. The wine did get 4 2nd place votes from others though. Purple/ruby in color. The alcohol fumes on the nose were overpowering. This didn’t seem to be a “fault” as much as a “style choice”. Whatever. The fruit had faded quite a bit and the alcohol was overpowering the wine. It seemed disjointed to me and out of balance. As I said, other liked just fine. For me though, NR.

1995 Larkmead Zinfandel Frank-Rombauer
Ruby in color, cloudy and slightly brown. The nose is slightly oxidized with some faint cherries. On the palate, this is better. Soft and still showing some tannins. Tart cranberries. Needs food but well past its prime. 50+2+8+13+3=76

2004 A. Raffanelli Zinfandel Dry creek
Inky purple, ruby at the rim. The nose is very tight. A slight bramble quality to it. On the palate, tart cherries, even tarter on the finish. This is certainly alive but I don’t think I love the style. 50+4+10+16+6=86

2001 Rosenblum Zinfandel Carla’s Vineyard
Inky purple in color, mostly opaque and bright. The nose is slightly musty with bramble and black raspberries. On the palate, this is soft with black raspberries and a clay quality. Short finish. This is nice, but certainly past prime IMO. The group liked it more than I as it wa the groups #2 wine. 50+4+11+15+5=85

2002 Biale Zinfandel Old Crane Ranch
Ruby/purple, shimmering bright. The nose shows lots of alcohol. With air, bramble come out and some raspberries. On the palate, black raspberries and jammy. A bit dried out at first. With air, it kept opening up and improving. The heat dissipated. Some coffee notes on the finish. 50+4+12+17+6=89

2004 Carlisle Zinfandel Fava Ranch
Ruby/purple in color, shimmering bright. The nose is very nice with bramble, raspberries and some alcohol. On the palate, this is jammy at its best. I knew Roland had brought this, so I suspected Carlisle. Not one of Mike’s best, but still damn good. Easily the groups WOTN as well as mine. 50+4+12+17+7=91

The Grenache flight:
2001 Dom. Grand Veneur Les Orignes
Corked. Not horribly and in fact, it took some time to really show. Enough to wipe out any fruit though. Disappointing as it was the only Rhone wine in the batch.

2005 Alto Moncayo Veraton
Purple in color with ruby swirls. The nose is dusty with cherries and raisins and a bit of camphor. Full bodied. Reminds me of an Amarone. Tannic and with some heat on the finish. Still, and despite not being what I think of as Grenache, I liked this wine (better than the group). 50+4+13+17+7=91

2005 Chalone Gavilan Grenache
Bottle #1422
Purple/ruby in color. The nose has cherries and raspberries. Nice. On the palate, this is soft and juicy. No tannins. I was surprised at its youth. Black raspberries, black olives. I was thinking this was a “lesser” 98 CdP. I enjoyed this wine a bit more than the group. 50+3+13+17+6=89

2004 Drew Ying-Grenache Ying Yang
Ruby in color, mostly clear and bright. The nose seems to have a bit of VA but not to a distraction. Cherries and some leather. Slightly acidic. Has a nice complexity with cherries, tart cherries and earth. Long finish. This got better all night long. 50+4+12+17+7=90

2004 Alto Moncayo
Purple in color with magenta swirls. The nose is nice with leather, raspberries and cherries. Plenty of oak here. Black cherries and raspberries on the palate. Tannic and young but this wine has lots of fruit. I brought this and suspected this, but it tasted more “new world”. It was the groups #2 by a narrow margin. This needs some time but is very nice. 50+4+13+18+7=92

2003 Alto Moncayo
The groups WOTN by a narrow margin. Ruby in color with purple swirls. The nose has cherries, black raspberries, spice and oak. Lots of upfront fruit. Raspberries, cherries, leather with tons of fruit. A bit of raisins. Mild tannins. Long finish. 50+4+13+18+7=92

2006 Terry Hoage Vineyards Grenach The Skins
Purple/ruby in color. The nose has cherries and earthiness. This is sweet cherry and raspberry fruit. Shows an interesting complexity. Also some purple fruits. My first time trying this wine (I have a bottle in the cellar). It is very nice, but I think I prefer the blends better. This also needs a couple more years to improve. 50+4+12+17+7=89

So as it turned out, I liked the Alto Moncayo 04, 03, 05 Vertaon wines 1, 2, and 3. I still think Grenache is better blended with some other Rhone varietals, but it would have been good to have a bottle of Charvin or Rayas in the mix.

1 Like
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Loren, thanks for the notes. I love the Alto Moncayo wines.

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16 bottles of wine for two dudes.


[notworthy.gif]

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Thanks but there were 8 of us. [rofl.gif]

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Loren,

Thanks for the notes. I also enjoy the Veraton bottling year in and year out. I’ve found it goes from being “good” on Day 1 to “excellent” on Day 2 … almost as if it is a different wine on Day 2.

sorry bout the CdP … that is a bummer. :frowning:

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had the Biale Old Crane thru 05, 06, 07 vintages yesterday and barrel tasted the 08. thought this bottling the best and most typical of the Biale Zinfandels.