Thread: 3 Zin challenge
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In article >, says
....
>
>Emery Davis wrote:
>> Mike's other post gave me ideas...
>>
>> Adele is currently in SF for work, and can be persuaded to bring
>> back 3 bottles of great CA zinfandel. (I guess she's not as strong
>> as MT )
>>
>> I'm too out of the CA scene, even to know what the good current
>> vintages are. So, help please!

>
>Emery,
> You really can't go too wrong with current releases: 2001 and 2002
>were both excellent Zin vintages and, while I haven't tried many '03s,
>it should be very good as well. As for producers, there's the usual
>suspects (Ridge, Ravenswood, Rosenblum, Storybook Mountain, Cline,
>Biale, Seghesio) and the smaller producers (Zoom, Dashe, Fife) and the
>more controversial (Turley, Martinelli). It might be educational to
>pick 3 from different regions (Dry Creek/Geyserville, Amador, Paso
>Robles, Napa) to investigate terroir in Zins. If she shops at K&L, she
>might also find some aged Zins for sale: right now, they're selling some
>older Biale Zins and quite a few aged Turleys.
>
>HTH
>Mark Lipton


I concur on these selections, especially the Biale. I've been nursing my
allocation of the Black Chicken, Aldo's, and Grande sv's, and recently tasted
the Spinker and Dogtown Flats [?] from the '02. All excellent.

The idea of finding the terroir in Zins is a great one. I attended a tasting
some years back with just that theme and it was an "eye-opener" for me, at
least.

I also agree with your later post in this thread recent Turleys. I happen
to be a big fan of heavily extracted Zins, but appreciate their more recent
offerings, especially the '01 & '02 Duarte. That said, there are very few Zins
that I cannot find something to love in. Out of a half-dozen ZAP events, I
have only encountered 1, that I did not enjoy, and I tasted as many as the
event's time permitted.

I also agree with Ed's recent accessment of Ravenswood. We just did a dinner
with Ravenswood, and there was less to really get into, than in years past.
Maybe the corporate thing has not been as kind to them, as some would have
hoped. The sv offerings were still good, but too much of what was served was
just average Zin.

Almost all of the sv Rosenblums are very good, and worth sorting through a
dozen, or so Rosenblum labels.

Thanks for the tip on K&L. I'll call "uncle" Ralph tomorrow and see what he's
got around. Can't ship it until it cools off a bit in AZ, but I may be out to
pick it up, as I need to clean out my locker in Napa anyway.

Hunt