Who makes the best zinfandels these days?

WINE TALK
21

Love Hartford and Biale

22

Ridge and Biale
Also Green and Red. The Chiles Mill and Chiles Canyon vineyard bottlings are very good.

23

Wow, exciting news.

I like Ridge and Dashe and have been meaning to try Scherrer for years.

24

Carlisle, Scherrer and Benovia are the 3 I like best.

25

My faves are Carlisle, Neal, and Barlow.

26

Turley, Carlisle, Hartford, Bedrock, Seghesio, Williams Selyem, Scherrer, Ridge.
I can’t pick one because depending on my mood I never know what I may crave. The above crowd my cellar though.

27

+1 & a couple of others like Rombauer & Joe “August” Briggs

28

Seghesio & Ridge

29

FWIW, you’ll never be moved to tears, but Navarro’s zinfandels can be very, very pleasant and are fairly light on their feet. Price is right, too.

30

Tom poured a barrel sample of this (and the petite sirah / zin blend) for me and my wife in May when we visited. I’m not particularly qualified to evaluate a wine that young, but I was very encouraged by the zinfandel, which seemed to be much in the Dehlinger house style. Tom tried to keep expectations low for it, emphasizing it was mostly about him just pursuing a personal interest and was not intended to create an exceptional wine, but I think a lot of that was just what a painfully modest man he is in general, or at least that was my impression of him.

The blend was pretty overpowering at that point and I couldn’t reach much of a conclusion about it either way, but I assume that is a wine which will need some time given the petite sirah (I think 60%). Of course I have both on order, especially considering the extremely attractive pricing.

31

The venerable and wise Mr. Wood is correct. Once again.

32

Thanks, all. I just have not checked in on zins in quite some time and appreciate all of your suggestions. Yes, I recognize the names, but just wanted to see what was at or near the top of everyone’s lists. Thank you, everyone. [cheers.gif]

33

Don’t know if it has been mentioned, but for value and bang for the buck Dry Creek makes nice Zins.

34

My favorite Zin depends on what style I’m in the mood for, or what food will pair up with it. For a more classically styled wine, Joseph Swan’s Mancini Zin is pretty nice. For something ripe and juicy, Linne Calodo Cherry Red or Problem Child. For middle of the road, I’ve always loved The Terraces.

35

On our last trip to the Sonoma area we were given an intro to Talty Vineyards (Dry Creek) and had a tasting with the owner… Mike Talty is his name, if I’m remembering correctly, though the winery is named for his father William Talty. We found his estate and Connolly Zins to be among the best we’ve had in years. I think his total production is around 1800 cases, so he may be pretty much under the radar for now.

36

Also try the Zichichi Old Vine Estate

37

Carlisle
Gamba
Charter Oak

38

Count me as another Ridge and Carlisle fan. I’ve also recently acquired about half a case of Schrader’s Zins from 2003 – 2005 on Winebid for about $15/per, and they were fantastic.

I used to LOVE Biale and was in their wine club, but the past two years have been really disappointing to me….

39

Bucklin Old Hill Ranch

40

Surprised no one mentioned Elyse. I really enjoy their Morosoli and Howell Mountain Zins.