Community Tasting Note
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forceberry wrote: 91 points
June 1, 2023 - Made with fruit sourced from a vineyard planted to two different clones of Zinfandel. 14,5% alcohol.
Somewhat translucent and a bit evolved dark cherry red color with brick-red highlights. The nose feels sweet, fragrant and quite fruit-forward with aromas of strawberries and juicy black raspberries, some balsamic notes of VA, a little bit of dark plummy fruit, light toasty notes of sweet oak spice, a hint of black cherry and a touch of wizened fruits. The wine feels savory, moderately evolved and quite dense on the palate with a full body and quite intense flavors of wizened dark fruits and sweet black raspberry, some earthy notes, light woody notes of cedar and toasty oak spice, a little bit of dried figs, an oxidative hint of beef jerky and a touch of balsamic VA. The overall feel is enjoyably firm and balanced with the rather high acidity and medium-plus tannins. The finish is ripe, moderately evolved and somewhat grippy with an intense aftertaste of dried dark fruits, some woody notes of savory oak spice, a little bit of beef jerky or salt-cured beef, light sweeter nuances of ripe black raspberries, a hint of fresh black cherry and a touch of vanilla.
A fine, harmonious and pleasantly evolved Napa Zin. The oak still shows a little bit, but for the most part it has integrated with the fruit quite nicely. There's good sense of ripe Zin fruit here, but the wine never once feels too ripe: the alcohol remains in check, there's enough acidity to lend good sense of freshness and brightness to the fruit flavors and the somewhat grippy but not tough tannins lend vital sense of firmness to the mouthfeel. While not the best vintage of Rosenblum's Rust Ridge I've tasted, this is still a lovely wine in its own right and it is holding up really well for its age. It might not evolve that much from here, but I don't see the wine falling apart anytime soon, either. An excellent purchase at 28,50€.532 views