I had an opportunity to taste the new Zin release from Orin Swift (The
Prisoner, Mercurey Head, Pappillon) made by Dave Phinney. The fruit
is sourced from virtually every major Zin area in California and from
many famous Zin producing vineyards. It's a blend of 85% zin, 10%
syrah and 5% petite syrah. This is a big wine, quite juicy and ripe
with a fair amount of new oak but it seemed very well balanced and had
enough heritage zin flavors to remind me of what I used to like about
zin. A bit of wild berry and peppery spice. It's priced at between
$25-$30 and it's a lot of wine for the price. It needs a little time
to come together but I would drink it fairly young to enjoy the ripe
fruity character. "B+/A-"