March 29, 2024 - Drinking quite well. Brambly, mostly black, fruit. Not too ripe. Some spices. Good acidity. Tannins fully integrated. Not sure it will improve with further cellar time. My guess is no (but just a guess). If I had more, I would drink within the next 2-3 yrs.
January 1, 2024 - Previous notes of PnP were accurate, decanted for 15min and really didn't need much to get going. Huge nose of dark cherry and blueberries. Tannins resolved and lovely balance right now of blue/black fruit with a nice and polished acidic finish. Need to buy more from this Vineyard!
December 24, 2023 - Drinking quite nicely at present. Hard to say if further aging will provide upside.
November 5, 2023 - Delicious with burgers. Not decanted. Lots of great fruit, but the structure wasn't overbearing. Drink now with pleasure or hold for more complexity.
October 20, 2023 - Still just a very good wine. No complaints about that, but I wouldn’t rank it up with the strongest vintages of Papera and I don’t see it evolving there with more time in the cellar. When I have one of the Bedrock SVDs that performs at this level, I’m reminded just how good the Old Vine Zin is - as good, and sometimes better, at half the price.
April 2, 2023 - No longer all that tannic, but it's still a big boy. Decent nose. Primarily red fruit, but there was plenty of darker fruit as well. Fairly rich, with an above average finish. So why not a higher score? Papera is probably my favorite zinfandel vineyard, so i expect a religious experience whenever I drink a wine made from its fruit. Sorry, but this just didn't deliver. Although it did deliver a big, mouth-filling experience, it still struck me as rather simple and coarse.
December 23, 2022 - A bit of an underperforming Papera Ranch, to me. There’s good acidity but it sticks out a bit, needing a little more fruit richness to provide balance. In most vintages, that’s present. In the 2015, not quite. Still, it’s got more complexity than the Old Vine Zin and is a good food companion at this stage.
October 2, 2022 - Delicious wine that showed the prettier side of Zin while showing more dark earth character than a pure varietal wine. Elevated ABV at 14.5, but in balance. Silky tannin, moderate acidity, and brambly fruit with added tertiary complexity. Showing well now.
July 15, 2022 - Tasted side-by-side with a 2015 Carlisle Papera zinfandel. Compared to the Carlisle, this came across as somewhat coarse and unpolished. Nice nose, nice fruit, and nice finish, but it seemed a little rough and raw. Although the tannins are not all that obtrusive, I think it needs another year or so.
June 25, 2022 - A flavorful bold wine. It was tasty and interesting. Zin seems to anchor this. Other varietals add some interest. Nonetheless - a curious interesting wine. Drink now (as other recent notes suggest).