Community Tasting Note

forceberry wrote:

Thursday, October 22, 2015 - Deep, dark red color with a somewhat pruney brownish hue. The brooding nose feels quite dark-toned with concentrated aromas of dark fruits, some aromatic sweet oak spice, a little bit of dried figs, light chocolatey notes and a hint of juicy boysenberry. The wine is dense, concentrated and somewhat hot on the palate with noticeably full body and intense flavors of ripe dark berries, some sweet strawberries, a little bit of spicy bitterness, a hint of chocolatey oak and a touch of dried figs. The wine is surprisingly structured for a Zin with lively, moderately high acidity and quite ample and firm yet pleasantly mellow tannins. The finish is long, warm and spicy with intense flavors of sweet figs, some raisiny dark fruits, a little bit of ripe dark berries, light chocolatey oak notes, a hint of toasted wood and a touch of strawberry jam. The tannins lend a gentle touch of astringent grip to the aftertaste.

A surprisingly firm, structured and serious Zinfandel with good sense of balance and intensity. Flavor-wise the wine is a classic Zinfandel: very ripe and sweetly-fruited with quite a bit of emphasis on the oak character. However, the wine doesn't come across as too overdone or ponderous and with its harmonious structure I can expect the wine to not just keep, but actually develop in a cellar. Zinfandel has never been a grape variety for my taste, but if I was looking for a high-quality Zin or just a well-made new world red with a lot of body and fruit, this would be a serious contender. Although not a wine for my taste, the high quality here is obvious and thus the wine is rated accordingly.

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