Community Tasting Note
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JohnMcIlwain Likes this wine:
August 30, 2021 - I’ll confess to not remembering the last time I drank a young Zinfandel (maybe Sky Zinfandel a few years ago?), but it’s been a minute. And despite having a few bottles of Bedrock Evangelho, I’ve been remiss in checking in on the Old Wine Zinfandel. But a wonderful bottle of 1987 Ravenswood enjoyed with a colleague and a chance sighting of the 2018 reminded me that I probably could use more dry-farmed California heritage wines at the table. Served at cellar temperature. The robe is a dark ruby, rather than inky purple and translucent to the meniscus. The nose is brambly and red-fruited, with notes of game, spice, and black raspberry seed. The palate is concentrated—but by no means over-extracted or roasted—with a fine thrust of plummy red fruit, wild hedge fruit, and despite it being “entry level,” there’s plenty of deep earth and soil tone to maintain interest. There’s fine acidity and certainly some tannins, which keep things ‘upright.’ And while there’s a bit of discernible wood here (nothing overt, dear reader), this carries itself with aplomb despite the ripeness of the vintage. Terrific with binchotan-grilled lamb loin chops from Dickson's and a sautée of corn and chanterelles; it certainly stood up to the grass-fed lamb, while not overwhelming the corn and wild mushroom. This is a lovely bottle and worth the tariff. And structurally, I can see this gaining complexity and interest with 7-12 years in the cellar. Re-buy? Sure, there’s a plenty of interest here, but I’d certainly advocate for serving at cellar temp and allowing the wine to open up. Also, it bears mentioning, this is a real bargain. Not “cheap,” but an excellent value. Well worth seeking out.
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2 Comments
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guribh commented:
9/24/21, 5:30 PM - Thanks for a very thorough and well composed review. Cheers!
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JohnMcIlwain commented:
9/24/21, 5:36 PM - Thank you for the feedback. Cheers!