2014 Turley Zinfandel Kirschenmann Vineyard

Community Tasting Notes (44) Avg Score: 90.7 points

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  3/10/2023 - Rieslingfan wrote:

  Oh wow what a difference a few years makes. Medium bodied, bright profile and the most compelling red cherry fruit ai have come across in a long time. It’s a distillation of that bursting, fresh, juicy fruit down to a pinpoint - like a white dwarf star of Zinfandel. There’s more going on, and a structure that was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, but I can’t get past that cherry. You know what they say, it’s either cherry red, or midnight blue.

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  10/1/2022 - EZEddie Likes this wine: 91 Points

  Had with barbecued pork ribs, beef brisket and chicken. Stood up to the barbecue quite well. Very balanced and surprisingly soft. Would never guess 15% ABV. Could drink this by itself as well. Black cherry and blackberry on the palate. Have one bottle left and will consume before year end

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  7/24/2022 - mischwine wrote: 89 Points

  on the way down hill....waiting a bit too long.

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  5/3/2022 - bajayngo wrote:

  Big ripe fruit still even at eight years old woth lots of glycerin on the palate amd some herbs mixed in there too. I would say that the fruit is tamped down a bit with some age a,d I’m not sure if I prefer it in the first 3 to 4 years but it’s still in a good place with its large style it’s balanced well.

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  11/12/2021 - sfwinelover1 Likes this wine: 92 Points

  One off auction purchase ($34) about 6 months ago. Intense nose and powerful palate with blackberries, red and black raspberries and cherries, forest spice, dark florals, a porty note on the nose, with a dash of black pepper and a citric note on the back end. Medium purple, Medium to full bodied with medium to full legs. Medium++ acidity, medium+ tannins, no heat despite the 15.1% abv. Good+ complexity, persistence and intensity. Within the universe of zins, Turley is among my favorite of the larger producers, consistently making compelling and powerful wines, but they sometimes teeter on the verge of excess in alcohol and sweetness and are difficult to match with food, and as a result, my consumption of them has dropped over the years so that this was the first bottle I'd bought since I've been on CT (I've been a regular volunteer at ZAP for a dozen years, though, so I've kept up with what they've been up to to at least some extent). After 60-90 minutes of air--it was a bit big and rough out of the bottle--this bottling, which I was drinking for the first time, really impressed, and distinguished itself from other Turleys I've had. Light on its feet and well-balanced, this was a pleasure to drink on its own, but also excelled with my wife's lasagna (you may ask, why does someone who has half of the wine output of Tuscany for the past decade sitting around need something else to drink with pasta? Idk, variety?). Beyond the balance and *relative* lightness, the other eye opener here was excellent structure, very present but mostly integrated acidity and tannins, which not only give the wine freshness, lift and the food friendliness I mentioned, but indicate that this wine may well have another 5+ years of good drinking, even though it's in a perfect drinking window now, with just a bit of air. 90+ on night one, but up to 92+ by night 3. As much as I enjoyed this, with the tremendous quality of Italian wines I've been finding at prices not much above this, it's hard to see Zin being much more than an occasional choice, but it's good to know I can really enjoy it when I find the right bottlings.

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