Another Costco find with the Cameron Hughes Lot 86 Lodi Zinfandel 2006. Picked this one up for $10 at my local store in San Francisco.
What Cameron Hughes says about the wine: Dark, brick red wine with super spicy, huge nose of plums, blackberry, and black pepper. On the palate this wine is a basket of plummy red fruits, a little pomegranate, vanilla oak notes, pepper, and chocolate covered raisins. As this powerfully structured zinfandel opens up it gains additional complexity with tobacco and sweet cigar smoke notes. Despite two years in barrel, this zin is just a baby and will continue to improve in the bottle for many years to come.
Day 1 - On the nose, I'm getting a ton of plum, good ripe plum, with some cracked pepper and a little heat from the alcohol. Definitely a respectable nose for a $10 wine and a promising hint at the taste. But, once this hit my mouth, I had two words for this wine - fruit bomb! I cannot seem to get the plum to move out of the way and let some other elements come through. And, this isn't a delicate plum, this is a dark brooding plum that fell off the tree weeks ago and is trying it's damnedest to break down and get back into the earth. There is some bright berry - maybe cherry or raspberry - but it really is having a hard time holding it's own. Pretty good mid-palate, with a long finish, but the emo-plum sticks with me much longer than I would like. I don't see this one getting any better with age or with decanting, either, as the tannins are relatively mild and it feels like the fruit will just continue to get darker and heavier.
In its defense, the first couple tastes I had were with a juicy hamburger and it fared pretty well. The salt and grease of the burger elevated the other fruit and subdued the plum nicely. So, maybe this is a wine that needs some good grease with it.
Day 2 - not much to add, except that somehow the plum got even darker and more brooding, like it spent the night out with some old friends listening to Joy Division, smoking unfiltered cigarettes and reciting poetry at a half-empty spoken word open mike night. Definitely not the way I want to spend my night...
The flavor profile on the fruit is fine...big and in your face but with little balance. Very ripe with little tannic backbone and an over fleshy mid-palate. Finish is sweet and long.
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Very nice wine. Much better than expected for a hot climate zin. Not too fat, good zin fruit. Drank well into day 2. The RR petite really helps give this some structure and depth.
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Good fruit, nice body, Pretty fruity up front but then nice long finish. For the price this was a fantastic bottle of wine. Opened and everyone jumped on this wine so I didn't get to see how the wine evolved over a couple hours. Will be buying more
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12/19/2010 - Vegas Bob wrote: 93 Points
Wonderful Zinfandel
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4/19/2010 - rjhilgers@gmail.com wrote: 82 Points
Another Costco find with the Cameron Hughes Lot 86 Lodi Zinfandel 2006. Picked this one up for $10 at my local store in San Francisco.
What Cameron Hughes says about the wine: Dark, brick red wine with super spicy, huge nose of plums, blackberry, and black pepper. On the palate this wine is a basket of plummy red fruits, a little pomegranate, vanilla oak notes, pepper, and chocolate covered raisins. As this powerfully structured zinfandel opens up it gains additional complexity with tobacco and sweet cigar smoke notes. Despite two years in barrel, this zin is just a baby and will continue to improve in the bottle for many years to come.
Day 1 - On the nose, I'm getting a ton of plum, good ripe plum, with some cracked pepper and a little heat from the alcohol. Definitely a respectable nose for a $10 wine and a promising hint at the taste. But, once this hit my mouth, I had two words for this wine - fruit bomb! I cannot seem to get the plum to move out of the way and let some other elements come through. And, this isn't a delicate plum, this is a dark brooding plum that fell off the tree weeks ago and is trying it's damnedest to break down and get back into the earth. There is some bright berry - maybe cherry or raspberry - but it really is having a hard time holding it's own. Pretty good mid-palate, with a long finish, but the emo-plum sticks with me much longer than I would like. I don't see this one getting any better with age or with decanting, either, as the tannins are relatively mild and it feels like the fruit will just continue to get darker and heavier.
In its defense, the first couple tastes I had were with a juicy hamburger and it fared pretty well. The salt and grease of the burger elevated the other fruit and subdued the plum nicely. So, maybe this is a wine that needs some good grease with it.
Day 2 - not much to add, except that somehow the plum got even darker and more brooding, like it spent the night out with some old friends listening to Joy Division, smoking unfiltered cigarettes and reciting poetry at a half-empty spoken word open mike night. Definitely not the way I want to spend my night...
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10/11/2009 - JC Old School wrote: 90 Points
Very lush on the palate!
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8/23/2009 - wordstar wrote: 86 Points
Nice enough wine, but not noteworthy as a Zin. Better values are around.
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2/6/2009 - neurovino wrote: 87 Points
A little too lush. Would like to see more structure.
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2/5/2009 - chateaumiller wrote: 80 Points
GOOD
The flavor profile on the fruit is fine...big and in your face but with little balance. Very ripe with little tannic backbone and an over fleshy mid-palate. Finish is sweet and long.
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1/20/2009 - Acohen wrote: 89 Points
really enjoyed the fruit and slight pepper and spice. Good body and great finish without being too sweet or jammy
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1/1/2009 - Mike Stoneking wrote: 89 Points
Nice QPR Zin. Good fruit and nice finish. Wine improved with time, and was better on day 2.
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1/1/2009 - EaglesWin wrote: 90 Points
Nice, raspberries. Impressive for the price.
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12/31/2008 - BrewWench wrote: 84 Points
A little fruity for me, but still smooth.
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12/28/2008 - EducatedDrunk wrote: 87 Points
Big jammy zin, third bottle of the evening. Had good structure underneath all the fruit, but a bit heavy on the alcohol. Good value though.
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12/27/2008 - dmatley wrote: 88 Points
Very nice wine. Much better than expected for a hot climate zin. Not too fat, good zin fruit. Drank well into day 2. The RR petite really helps give this some structure and depth.
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11/29/2008 - neurovino wrote: 88 Points
Needed time for the alcohol to blow off. Initial fruit was sweet and lush, followed by a mildly tannic finish. Nothing special but a good value.
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11/27/2008 - cjschlos wrote: 90 Points
Good fruit, nice body, Pretty fruity up front but then nice long finish. For the price this was a fantastic bottle of wine. Opened and everyone jumped on this wine so I didn't get to see how the wine evolved over a couple hours. Will be buying more
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11/10/2008 - Cheryl wrote:
No notes
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