Thanks very much Dan, that makes a lot of sense. And, I note the Bern’s wine list has several aged Ridge’s, and not many (any?) aged Turleys. That speaks volumes. (Truth be told, I have fallen into the trap of buying Turley zins to try to get a better allocation of Turley Petite Syrah, which I do like a lot.)
Nice to see a fellow Mainer on here!
Working for Jed Steele, I’ve been lucky to try several of his older Zins. As others on this thread have remarked, they do gain a claret like character at about 10 years of age. From my own experience, it seems that alcohol isn’t as important as the acidity in what makes a beautifully aged zin.
I agree with this, and then its always fruit, an opulence or zing that carries and evolves. I kinda prefer the zing. Ridge is the standard, this thread is an ad for their Zins rightfully so. Turley, lesser as they flake out sooner. Wish I could empirically point toward a reason based on above. Rombauer every now and then produces something of weight and longevity that I was kinda shocked by.
While I agree with you that in general the Ridges are better for aging than the Turleys, there are so many Turley zins now (at least 20) that they vary pretty widely from ready to drink to hold for 10 years.
Here are my brief tasting notes from the Turley pick-up party in Amador last October.
My favorites of the 2016s they were pouring:
Dusi - everyone’s favorite. Fruit forward and lighter. Very drinkable.
Mead Ranch - not as fruit forward. A little bigger and more complex.
Old Vines - poured out of magnums. Nice balance of fruit and spice.
Turley Estate - very good.
Judge Bell - not as fruity or as good as the others.
(Last night 11/3, I had a 2013 Judge Bell at a friend’s and it was terrific. Obviously they vary year to year.)
Earlier here I mentioned a library wine I tasted. The 1999 Hayne Vineyard was, as the pourer suggested, ready to drink, probably within the next 24 hours. I wouldn’t have paid $95 for it since it was a little past its prime. But maybe 5 years ago it would have been very good.
Some of the best Turley zins I’ve had have been the Hayne, Rattlesnake and others aged at least 5 years.
I started drinking Ridge zins in the early 1980s and they’ve always needed some bottle age.
I got some Turley Zinfandels with age (1997-2004) at an auction recently. You do not find them here in Europe and especially not with age (same can be said for almost all Zins). Having no Zins in the cellar and due to a great experience with a 70s Ridge Geyserville on a trip to the States back in 2019, I was very curious of how they would show.
I just poped the first cork, an Old Vine 2000, and was surprised how well it showed (not the best vintage they say and not one of Turley’s top Zins they say). Going through this tread I found your comment on the Old Vine Zins from Turley and wanted to report back that the 2000 at 22 years still shows great, vivd, complex, tamed and my guess would be that this improves for at least another decade.
Nice to hear! My Old Vines tend to be cellar defenders for me. I purchase a case every year.
I got a bunch of those and the some odd bottles of Hayne (97/00/04) plus two 97s (Moore Earthquake, Black Sears). In your view, which are the best Zin Vyds for Turley? Hayne seems to get pretty decent CT scores.
I’m a bit surprised, but pleasantly surprised, to see that Turley zins from that era have aged well.
It’s just another example of how wine can upend the conventional wisdom and expectations, sometimes for the worse but sometimes for the better. It’s one of the reason this hobby never gets stale or boring.
Hayne, Ueberroth, Cedarman, Dusi are all faves of mine but there are many others that are just as enjoyable.
I just can report on this one bottle, so hardly any evidence here. But I found many positive reviews from the past few years for these wines, mostly with higher than average CT ratings which makes me quite optimistic.
One of my buddies bought some older Carlisle’s on Commerce Center here and they have been drinking awesome. The old Ravenswood bottles from Joel were awesome to get to drink as well.
I like the 4-6 year window for most zins, maybe 3 years for some of the old vine cellar defenders. I am trying to hide some of the better bottles to see how they will look 10-15 years out but don’t have the space to store zin infinitely.
I still have a nice chunk of 17 zins we are drinking through, mostly Carlisle before I open the 18s later this year.
In 2017 I had an 05 zin with Fred Scherrer which changed my mind on aging zins as long as they have enough acid and not too much alcohol. The recent Ravenswood old releases by Joel Peterson has taken that to the next level. Depends upon how they are made not how much they cost.
Just Coravinned a Turkey 93 Hayne Vineyard for pasta last night. Drank beautifully with more plum and cardamon spice notes ( not going pruney yet). Alcohol is definitely still there, but it had a complex finish with no burn. Lovely drink, not over the hill at all. Some of those big monsters still hold up over time, but they are just as interesting young. Not sure aging is really necessary…
Turley. Damn spell check.
Im not a huge zin drinker, so I haven’t had many exciting bottles, but hands down the best I have had was a 1995 Ravenswood Zinfandel Wood Road Belloni Vineyard. Drank on 12/25/2018. Wishing I had some more zin like that.
Opened a 1994 peterson dry creek zin a few days ago. Totally drinkable, no bricking, very good.
I am a little slow to pick up on this thread, sorry. I have been a Zin fan for a (very) long time. While I concur on most of the names bantied in earlier posts, I think there is a bigger point tobe made - the ‘od vines’ or Heritage material have a ubique aging potential different from the rest of the pack. In this context you can add name like Martinelli, which may have seemed overblown upon release, buthave aged beautifully. We opened a 2002 Giuseppe Louisa last friday night and were blown away by how lovely, complex and delicious it was. Ravenswoods from the single estates can be this way. Also the Carlisles and Bedrocks from 10+ years are just beginning to show their elegance. Patience…
In the last few years, I have had Ridge zins from 1977 and 1978. They were really fascinating, esp. the 1978 Geyserville.
As folks know, a lot of the old Zin vineyards are interplanted with other varieties, and I think that often helps their aging characteristics. Also, some are blended with other varieties even if not interplanted.
-Al