Community Tasting Note

Sunday, July 26, 2020 - So about a year ago I had an infatuation with Zinfandel. Like a summer romance, it burned fiercely for a couple of months, then just as quickly it was gone. Unlike a summer romance, I had bought a bunch of Zins on allocation, and as they arrived, in dribs and drabs, I shoved them in my wine rack and tried to ignore them.

Tonight I was looking through the 2018 and 2017 Zins and noticed this 2004 bottle. I have no idea when, where or how I bought it. I thought that Zinfandels don't age. There are ten cellartracker tasting notes from 2010 that say this wine is past its prime. Ten years after that I opened this bottle with low expectations...

The cork came out intact and looked perfect. The wine is a deep crimson color, with hint of bricks at the edges. Big raspberry fruit and tomato leaves or capsicum on the nose. On the palate - holy sh1t this tastes good, luscious raspberry and strawberry fruit with soft long sweet finish, enough acidity, no heat, no aftertaste. This doesn't really taste like anything else I can think of - maybe a Grenache with Ribena blackcurrant cordial stirred in? It tastes a bit more like fruit juice than wine - but not in a bad way. There's none of the horrible artificial confected taste that some cheaper Zinfandels have. Went well with a vietnamese beef and noodle dish, could be enjoyed on its own.

This is a beautiful wine that doesn't remotely taste past it's prime. So what to make of this? Can wine rejuvenate itself? Did I just get a bottle that had been beautifully stored? I have no answer. And I still have all these 2018 Zinfandels - should I wait a decade before opening them?

One thing I can say - if you get a chance to buy a 2004 bottle of Turley's Duarte you should pounce on it.

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