Community Tasting Note

forceberry wrote:

Thursday, June 1, 2023 - A Zinfandel from a vineyard with vines up to 104 years old. 14% alcohol.

Luminous, somewhat translucent and still relatively youthful black cherry color. The nose feels sweetish, expressive and relatively youthful with aromas of strawberries, bilberries and ripe black raspberries, some woody notes of cedar, a little bit of gamey meat, light oxidative nuances of sweet soy sauce, a hint of Bassett's black wine gum, a touch of boysenberry jam and a whiff of vanilla. The wine feels ripe, juicy and quite chewy on the palate with a full body and moderately intense flavors of sweet black cherries and ripe black raspberries, some gamey tones, a little bit of savory spice, light crunchy notes of fresh red plums, cedary hints of woody oak and an evolved touch of dried dark fruits. Unlike most other vintages of Carla's Vineyard, this particular vintage feels quite firm and structured with its rather high acidity and fine-grained yet moderately grippy medium-plus tannins. The finish is ripe, long and moderately grippy with a savory and quite intense aftertaste of juicy red plums, some ripe black cherries, a little bit of gamey meat, light oaky notes of both cedar and sweeter toasty character, a hint of raspberry jam and a touch of earth.

Of the five vintages of Carla's Vineyard Zinfandels we tasted, this was easily my favorite. It seems that on average, Carla's Vineyard Zin is a softer, sweeter and slightly more oaky effort compared to the overall Rosenblum style. However, of the vintages we tasted, this 1999 was the driest, least oaky and most structured vintage, stylistically closer to the other Rosenblum Zinfandels than the other vintages of Carla's Vineyard. Compared to the bottle of this same vintage I tasted earlier (half a year ago), I found this bottle slightly more evolved, but also more harmonious and more enjoyable - as the previous bottle showed a subtle streak of sweet, buttery diacetyl character, which I'm not a fan of - making this a pretty terrific vintage of Carla's Vineyard. Although the wine is in a great spot right now, I can imagine it will continue to evolve for a handful of years more from here. Terrific value at 28,50€.

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