After a hella long time, San Francisco earned it’s well-deserved, brand spanking new chapter of The Young Winos. To kick off the magical occasion, we chose the classic “California grape” Zinfandel. Hailing originally from Croatia, Zin found a loving home in California around the same time Eastern European immigrants who brought over grapes did. The Young Winos of SF set up shop in Nor Cal, and dammnit, so did our Zinfandel for our first tasting…
The inaugural bottle was a 2007 Cline Zinfandel (California), $8. On the nose, Nikki got blackberry, Amy noticed black cherry, cake/pastry sugariness was Katie’s contribution, Collin smelled oranges, and I noticed some unripe funkberries.
We all agreed the palate seemed a little thin/light/soft and there was some sourness going on coupled with a higher acidity. We weren’t super enthused, but hey it’s $8. Next!
Not only did I unabashedly copy Ridge Vineyard’s label for our event page, I trekked up to their Healdsburg tasting room in order to throw down a bottle of the 2007 Ridge East Bench Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley), $30. This wine from one of the classic California zin producers showed raspberry and blackberry up front on the nose. Tim got a whiff of some vanilla, Nikki found spicy caramel, and Alex got cranberry.
On the palate, Nikki sensed some of the alcohol, as did the rest of us, but it wasn’t particularly out of balance. Tim got berries with a vanilla finish. Overall, we found it balanced, complex with some definite body.
Our next victim was a 2006 Klinker Brick Winery Zinfandel (Lodi), $18. Collin got a blackberry jam component on the nose. Nikki and I got raspberry. Deep and jammy indeedy.
The palate delivered dark, ripe fruit, Tim tasted something ashy, and we found it fruity, perhaps a little sweet, with some noticeable alcohol. Collin thought it was a good value for $18.
And the finale: 2006 Sol Rouge Tom Feeney Ranch Zinfandel (Russian River Valley), $36. We yanked this from the shelf at Winery Collective and had high hopes for this zin blended from 3 old and famous vineyards in the RRV. Right off the bat, Collin said “smells like a zinfandel.” …Always a good sign. Nikki found it perfume-y, Amy got black licorice, Alex got cherry, Katie said strawberry candy and I smelled whatever “dark brooding deliciousness” is.
The palate showed us bright plum, Nikki tasted lighter red fruits, and Alex mentioned a touch of pepper, as well as pointing out that this would be a good wine to drink w/ barbequed food.
This was our favorite bottle out of the line up. Someone mentioned it was a good looking bottle, and that it was a “good wine drinking wine.” ‘Nuff said.
At the end, we looked more like this:
YWSF
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