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by Tom Hill

A self-admitted wine geek, Tom lives in Northern New Mexico and works as a computational physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory doing numerical neutron transport & large scale code development. He has been tasting wines since 1971, participates locally with a couple of large tasting groups in his area, and is practically a fixture at most California wine festivals, such as the Hospice du Rhône, Rhône Rangers, and ZAP. Other interests: Tom is heavily into competitive sport fencing (foil & epee), biking, cooking, basketball, skiing, backpacking, mountain climbing.

Zins from the Archives - November 24, 2010

We tasted this week (11/24/10)  Zins Mostly From The Archives:

  1. DryCreekVnyd HeritageZin SonomaCnty (13.5%) 2008: Med.dark color; bright spicy/Zinberry/ raspberry/classic DryCreek some dusty light vanilla/oak very spicy nose; tart bright/Zinberry/raspberry very spicy light vanilla/oak flavor w/ modest tannins; med.long tart/bright/raspberry/Zinberry very spicy finish w/ light tannins; seems a bit lighter than previous vintages; a very pretty bright/zippy/spicy classic DryCreek zin at a very good price. $19.00
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  2. DryCreekVnyd Zin OldVine (Vine age: 85+ yrs; 14.5%) 2007: Dark color; deeper some toasty/ pencilly/oak rather dusty/old vine some blackberry/Zin more complex nose; softer smooth/polished/ elegant rather pencilly/vanilla/oak some peppery/blackberry/Zin rather dusty/old vine flavor w/ some tannins; long elegant/ polished/smooth pencilly/vanilla/oak some blackberry/Zin/dusty finish; quite smooth & polished tannins w/ less bright/exhuberant Zin fruit; can use several more yrs of age. $28.00
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  3. DryCreekVnyd Zin SomersRanch/DCV (14.9%) 2007: Dark color; light pencilly/toasty/oak very spicy/raspberry/ blackberry/Zin slight RRV-like some dusty/old vine beautiful nose; tart very spicy/bright/ Zinberry/black berry light toasty/pencilly/oak flavor; very long very spicy blackberry/Zinberry/ Zin light pencilly/oak finish; a bit like RRV Zin w/ the blackberry character; quintessential DryCreekVlly Zin. $34.00
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  4. DryCreekVnyd Zin BeesonRanch/DCV (14.5%; 463 cs; Planted: 1890's) 2007: Med.dark color; very black peppery/blackberry/Zin slight herbal more RRV-like light dusty/old vine light toasty/oak beautiful nose; tart strong blackberry/Zin/black peppery almost RRV-like light toasty/oak very spicy flavor w/ some tannins; very long lots of black pepper/blackberry/Zin light toasty/oak slight herbal finish w/ some tannins; needs another 2-5 yrs of age; terrific Zin w/ a bit more interesting character; almost RRV in character. $34.00
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  5. Ravenswood Zin SonomaCnty (14.3%; 54% SonomaVlly/30% DryCreekVlly/16% AlexVlly) 1991: Med.color w/ slight bricking; some pencilly/cigar box/old Zin slight sewage/pungent/funky slight blackberry/Zin some complex/ old Zin nose; smooth/elegant/delicate slightly dried out/astringent light spicy/blackberry/Zin rather pencilly/cigar box/cedary old Zin flavor; med.long smooth/elegant pencilly/cedary/cigar box very light blackberry/Zin finish; still some life left but starting to crack up on the shoals of old age.
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  6. Ravenswood Zin SonomaCnty (13.4%) 1986: Med. color w/ some bricking; strong bretty rather tired/old Zin bit unclean little fruit nose; tart fairly unclean/bretty somewhat tired/dried out/ astringent/old Zin no fruit some cedary/oak/minty flavor; med.short rather tired/dried out/old Zin slight cedary/cigar box rather bretty finish; rather tired & dried out old Zin that's clinging to life.
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  7. RosenblumCllrs Zin GeorgeHendryVnyd/NapaVlly (TW) 1989: Med.light color w/ little bricking; rather tired/old Zin light cigar box/cedary some complex nose; tart dried out/astringent some cigar box/old Zin pretty tired flavor; med.short some astringent/tired/dried out slight minty/cigar box/old Zin finish; pretty tired and far gone old Zin; no pleasure here.
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  8. RosenblumCllrs Zin Reserve GeorgeHendryVnyd/NapaVlly (13.7%) 1992: Med.color w/ light bricking; slight bretty/unclean slight blackberry/Zin/licorice/pungent light toasty/oak some complex nose; smooth/elegant slight unclean/bretty fairly lush/rich some blackberry/Zin/licorice light pungent/toasty/oak bit complex flavor; long licorice/blackberry/Zin slight bretty light pungent/toasty/oak finish w/ smooth/refined tannins; still plenty of fruit left and quite alive.
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  9. RosenblumCllrs Zin BrandlinRanch/MtVeeder/NapaVlly (14.1%) 1991: Med.color w/ no bricking; rather ripe some cedary/cigar box light spicy/blackberry/Zin light smokey/pungent/oak fairly complex nose; soft smooth/elegant light pungent/toasty/oak some lush/blackberry/Zin/licorice bit spicy/complex flavor; very long some cedary/cigar box light blackberry/licorice/Zin light pungent/oak bit complex finish w/ smooth tannins; still alive and not drying out but a rather gentle Zin that whispers of old times gone by.
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  10. Ravenswood Zin OldHill/SonomaVlly (15.4%; 950 cs) 1999: Dark color w/ slight bricking; beautiful very spicy blackberry/Zin/licorice/bit plummy some smokey/pungent/toasty/oak slight minty complex very spicy nose; rather big/lush some minty fairly dusty/old vines strong blackberry/Zin/plummy/licorice rich light smokey/ oak/minty fairly smooth flavor; very long slight minty pungent/toasty/oak strong blackberry/licorice fairly complex finish w/ smooth tannins; beautifully developed and plenty of fruit left.
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  11. MariettaCllrs Zin SonomaCnty (RTW) 1984: Med.dark color w/ some bricking; rather unclean/bretty strong cigar box/old Zin/pencilly somewhat tired very slight spicy/Zin nose; soft rather tired/dried out/old Zin some unclean/bretty rather tannic/astringent flavor; med.short unclean/bretty tired/dried out/astringent pencilly/cigar box finish; not much left of this Zin.
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  12. Williams Selyem Zin LenoMartinelliVnyd/RRV/SonomaCnty (12.8%) 1985: Med.color w/ some bricking; lovely rather spicy/blackberry/Zin fragrant/floral/violets light toasty/oak complex/fragrant beautiful nose; slightly tart very spicy/blackberry/Zin/blueberry light toasty/oak slightly dusty/earthy rather toasty/ pencilly/oak complex flavor; long/lingering very spicy/blackberry/Zin some dusty rather toasty/oak complex finish w/ smooth tannins; still plenty of fruit, nice secondary character and no signs of drying out; beautiful/mature Zin that's come together very nicely.
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  13. OjaiVnyd Apricots Calif RTW (14%) 1997: Med.dark color w/ some browning; very ripe blackberry/ Zin/licorice very light pencilly some complex nose; soft some tannic very ripe/blackberry/ Zin/boysenberry some toasty/ oak/charred slight tannic/astringent flavor; long very ripe/blackberry/ Zin/grapey/ boysen-berry slight astringent/tannic some complex finish; lots of very ripe Zin fruit but starting to dry out a bit.
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  14. DryCreekVnyd Zin (LateHrvst) DryCreekVlly (16.5%; SaH: 25.6 Brix, TA: 0.92%; RS: 1%) 1982: Very dark color; some corked/musty/TCA some ripe/blackberry/Zin/boysenberry slight pungent/licorice bit alcoholic some complex nose; soft bit tannic/alcoholic/hot bit musty/TCA/corked some ripe/blackberry/ boysenberry/Zin very ripe flavor; long bit TCA/corked/musty strong very ripe/blackberry/boysenberry/Zin finish w/ light tannins; some god Zin underneath but the TCA/musty is distracting. $15.00
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  15. Mayacamas Zin LateHrvst NapaVlly (17 1/2%) 1984: Dark color w/ slight browning; very ripe/raisened/late harvesty intense blackberry/boysenberry/Zin slight pencilly/toasty/oak bit licorice/ pungent/road tar fairly complex nose; off-dry very intense blackberry/boysenberry/Zin some toasty/ pencilly/oak rather late harvesty bit road tar/licorice complex flavor w/ light tannins; very long slightly off-dry very ripe/late harvesty strong boysenberry/Zin light pencilly/oak light licorice/road tar finish w/ light/ smooth tannins; still in wonderful shape and showing little signs of drying out; wonderful complex Zin.


A the usual blather from TheBloodyPulpit:


1. DCV Zin: I've always been a fan of the DryCreekVnyd Zins. Followed them from the very start, the '73. Over the last 10 yrs or so, they've only gotten better. Particularly the vnyd-designates, the SomersRanch and the BeesonRanch; with my favorite usually being the Beeson. I've been a little less enamored by the OldVine Zin. All three Zins show lots of dusty/old vine character. But the OldVine gets a bit longer aging I think, which robs it a bit of the bright/very spicy Zin character I love in the Somers & Beeson. It's definitely a smoother & more polished wine, stylistically different from the S&B. DCV just had a Thanksgiving sale on the Somers & Beeson at $17/btl. w/ $1 shipping on a case or more. We backed up the truck on that one.
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2. Of the older Zins, the RavenswoodOldHill, the Maycamas, and the W-S were my easy favorites; with the W-S probably the youngest & the best; lots of youthful character. From the anemic 12.8% on the W-S, I would guess that that's before HelenTurley was consulting winemaker there.

TomHill

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