Dr. Zin Offers Up Some Dandies
One of our dear friends is being treated for cancer so Rik (Dr. Zin, and yes he is a real doctor) and his wife Kitty held a special wine tasting so that we all could encourage him and his wife through the trials of cancer treatments.
As is the custom, Rik put out a couple of warm-up wines for us to sip as we all arrived and caught up. It has been six months since the last time we all got together. As always, this is a double blind tasting. However, considering who the hosts were, we all correctly assumed that we were tasting Zinfandels. The first warm-up wine was NV Zombie California Zin (14.2 abv) $11 and was generally liked for the pleasant balance but no one seemed to find anything exciting or distinct about it. The second warm-up 2021 Kirkland Old Vine Sonoma Zinfandel CA (14.5% abv) $10 was very well liked with a big aromatic flash of spicy ripe fruit in the context of a round full rich texture. Once we sat down, Rik did inform us that one flight was all Lodi and the other flight was all Sonoma producers though he did not tell us that one of the wines in the first group was produced from grapes grown in Cucamonga*.
FIRST FLIGHT
2019 Carol Shelton Old Vine “Monga” Zinfandel, Cucamonga CA (14.8% abv) $25 instantly made me think that the first flight must be the Sonoma flight. The fruit purity, cedar, pencil lead, mint was so classy and Cab-like that it couldn’t possibly be Lodi. If the nose was pure class, the mid-palate with intense mineral laden ore-like nuance offered up something extra finishing with big tropical papaya-like fruit all the way to the rich textured smooth finish leaving an impression of exotic spice. I gave this remarkable wine 17/20 while the group score was 16/20 a 2nd place tie. 2022 Valraven Sonoma Zinfandel CA (14.5% abv) $20 suffered by comparison to the Monga Zin. Though a really nice mix of menthol and wood spice in the nose and a smooth tannic finish, it was hard to fully assess a seemingly closed wine hiding all the fruit and charm. Alice found it to be much more “fruit forward and bursting with flavor” than I did. I gave it a 15-/20 while the group gave it 14.9/20 a 4th place tie. 2019 Alexander Valley Vineyards Sonoma Zinfandel CA (14.1% abv) $18 was my clear favorite. Like the second warm-up, it just exuded a ripeness and fruit intensity that really charmed. Like the Monga Zin, with cedar and spice, it felt more like a Bordeaux heritage grape than Zin. Had we not already established that this was a Zinfandel tasting, I would surely have guessed Merlot. It was not as fat as the previous wines which may be why I found it so enjoyable and outstanding. It earned my top score 19/20 but the group score was 16/20 a 2nd place tie.
SECOND FLIGHT
2020 VanRuiten Old Vine Lodi Zinfandel CA (14.8% abv) $25 stood out from the first group for a couple of reasons. First, the alcohol seemed higher, or maybe more volatile. In fact, the Lodi wines did not actually have more alcohol than the Cucamonga/Sonoma wines. Alice commented on the high alcohol too. Secondly, the ripeness was more obvious. Again, this does not jibe with the actual ripeness of the fruit in terms of sugar content at harvest but more in the sense that the ripe fruit was clearly the center of attention. And, yes, this wine was dominated by big ripe dense black fruit. It was rustic and not classy with even a hint of vegetable (tomato?) nuance. I gave it 14/20 while the group scored it 14.9/20 a 4th place tie. 2019 Cameron Hughes Lot 811 Lodi Zinfandel CA (14.5% abv) $13 was surprisingly complex with a berry liqueur-like nose and wood-spice laying over a base of sumptuously ripe black fruit. This is fine wine with class throughout and a brilliantly clean finish. This wine was brought by Dr. Pete and Pat Marks who are long term fans of the great value wines marketed by the negocient company Cameron Hughes. I gave it 17/20 while the group score was 16.9/20 first place. 2022 Monte Rio Old Vine Lodi ZInfandel CA (13% abv) $19 was an odd one. There are a lot of unusual flavors ranging from candy and gum to Pepto-Bismol and hair products. I had a sense that there was a lot of yeasty, bacterial, beer-like flavors not common to most commercially produced wine. I suspected that maybe it was a “natural” wine made without sulfites. So, I went online and that was exactly the case. No sulfites were used in the winemaking and only wild yeast as it bloomed on the grapes naturally produced the fermentation. Yes, natural wine does have a ton of unique flavors going on that may be very enjoyable to some. But, anyone who has been drinking somewhat more sterile commercial wines all their life is not likely to enjoy this type of aroma and flavor. My score 12-/20 would not even warrant an honorable mention in a wine competition but rated a bit more generously by the group with 14/20 6th (last) place.
FINALE
After we scored and discussed the wines, Rik pulled out a bottle (served blind) of 1993 A. Rafanelli Dry Creek, Sonoma Zinfandel CA (14.4% abv) about $36 for the current vintage showed fully mature, maybe even old but good vitality and zero oxidation. It still offered layers of flavor exuding finesse and class. What a treat!!
Enjoy in Good Health,
A Brian Cain, the Michigan VIntner
* During much of the previous century, Cucamonga Valley (directly east of Los Angeles) had been the largest wine grape producing region in California. Because most of California’s vintners in those days were Italian, the Cucamonga cachet became synonymous with what became known as the Cal-Ital style. Today, most of the vineyard land has been swallowed up by urban sprawl so what remains is a handful of the very best sites capable of producing wines of the very highest class.
