SWIG TASTES ZINFANDELS

What a great set of wines SWIG tasted this time around! Zinfandel is the most American of the major varietals. Like jazz it draws its inspiration from overseas traditions, but is unmistakably born and representative of American (wine) culture. Californian growers and winemakers are really excelling at Zinfandel a short 40 years into its history as a grape vinified with the intent of producing fine wine.The reasonably priced set of wines we tasted represented itself well, for the most part, and characterized Zinfandel in its broadest stylistic manifestations.

Our host raised the bar by breaking out his jumbo-sized Le Creuset and braising beef short ribs. The rest of SWIG pitched in with a medley of works-with-braised sides. I won’t go into detail, but suffice to say no squash, brussel sprout, or rich cheese was spared. Roast pears and brown sugar ice cream insured that no one got out without an extra pound or two.

SWIG now officially rejects the 100 point rating system. Instead we’ll just tell you how the wines ranked relative to one another and what we thought of them.

(Last Place) Seven Deadly Zins 2007 Zinfandel, $17. Sometimes respectable wines get out classed by better bottles. This is not the case with Seven Deadly Zins. It can be described, in a word, as smokey. And not lilting, complex, high-toned gateway to the rest of the flavors smokey. More like did someone pour a teaspoon of liquid smoke into this at bottling smokey? Smokey was the sole descriptor at which anyone arrived. The smoke doesn’t blow off, doesn’t compliment other flavors , and probably wouldn’t even pair well with smoked meat. This is bad wine and you shouldn’t buy it if you have a nose and taste buds.

(4th Place) Nalle 2006 Dry Creek Zinfandel, $29. The Nalle, by contrast, is a solid bottle of wine. One taster ranked it first on the night, citing some gamey character and bright, clean acid in its favor. Several tasters got some citrus notes from the Nalle -- somewhat odd for a red wine -- along with sour cherries, saddle, tobacco and green olive. It was praised for crispness and balance, demerited for a very short finish and maybe a bit of brett. This Zin is quite similar to the night’s winner (below) in that it is good food wine; different in that it is a little more complicated and quirky. If that appeals, and you want a wine to drink with a meal, this is a great choice.

(3rd Place) Seghesio 2007 Sonoma Zinfandel, $24. The final three wines clustered tightly at the top of the pack, separated by perhaps an insignificant margin. The Seghesio earn 93 points from a major wine mag and a place near the top of their 100 best wines of the year. Though we would have felt a little counter-wine-culture pride if we’d seen it differently, we liked it too. A little alcoholic on the nose, it is a relatively big wine and simple yet well-layered with ripe fruit (raspberry, blueberry, blackberry liquor) and flowery spice notes (potpourri, vanilla, cinnamon) nicely balanced against one another. Without enough acid to be rightly called a good food wine, and just a little acetone note that one taster found objectionable, there are reasons to fault it. But the overall impression is one of smooth balance and deep flavors, and it is no wonder it sold out quickly after high praise in the wine media.

(2nd Place) Storybook Mountain 2007 Mayacamas Zinfandel, $35. Storybook’s Zins are routinely paler than the norm, lighter-bodied and somewhat harshly acidic when young. But they have a lot of stuffing and are built to age well, which they often do. This 2003 certainly did, displaying strong, distinct, intense aromas that came one after the other in waves: jammy blackberry, bing cherry, plum, raisin, chocolate, menthol, anise, tobacco, clove, earth, and so on. Tastes mirrored the aromas, with tasters doing a lot of underlining descriptors like smooth, deep, concentrated and loooong. The only real knock came when we eagerly poured this wine with food. To the groups’ surprise the wine was basically undrinkable with our meal; it both overpowered our strongly-flavor faire and went flabby in response to the food’s richness. But before and after dinner it was a Californian interpretation of a good Barolo.

(Wine of the Night) Ridge 2007 Three Valleys Zinfandel, $20. When the votes were tallied and it came time to reveal, we were just a little surprised to find the Three Valleys was the last bottle standing, having just nosed the Storybook Mountain. But then again this wine gave us what wine-drinkers have come to expect from Ridge: balance, versatility and palpable quality. We got a mildly-expressive nose of dried cherry, brambly berries, stemmy woodiness and pepper. It drank light, smoothly tannic and nicely acidic, with peppery soy notes on the surprisingly long finish. While this Ridge isn’t and never will be the pride of any collector’s cellar, it is a 20 dollar supermarket bottle you can hand to even the most wine-saavy host with confidence it will be appreciated. It is emblematic of everything good about the restrained style of Zinfandel making that Ridge rightly can be said to have pioneered in Californian in the 1970’s.