Rombauer used to make awesome zins in the early 90’s. Now they are over ripe and over extracted. This is so typical of California zins these days. The once present black pepper is no where to be found. It is a fruit bomb verging on a dessert wine. Some love this newer style zin. Not me. I pine for the glory days when they were spicy, not too fruity and complex as hell. Bring back my favorite grape. It’s not expressed in this bottle. That being said, for today’s zins, this is one of the better ones. There is structure and interesting flavors. It’s just way too sweet for my tastes. I would give this one 85 points for the memories of Rombauer zins of the past.
Rombauer – over the top
July 2, 2011 by Leave a Comment
1999 Renwood D’Agostini Bros Zinfandel
July 3, 2010 by Leave a Comment
Tasted this old zin tonight. Here’s my take on it.
2007 Seghesio Zinfandel
March 23, 2009 by Leave a Comment
Last evening I popped a bottle of 2007 Seghesio Zinfandel. I paid around $18 for it. I recorded my tasting. Take a look.
A great QPR zin
May 30, 2008 by Leave a Comment
I found a very nice value for under $10. I’ve had Kenwood before and it has always been a pretty ok wine. But this 2005 zinfandel really kicked it for the $9 I dropped for it. It was solid and interesting and quite tasty. Even the color was dark almost inky purple. It was black cherries for days and days on the nose combining with hints of purple plums and spices. Those flavors came through in the mouth as well. Black cherry mixing with spicy apple pie and plums. It was quite smooth with soft tannins. The fruit was pretty big but not over the top. It didn’t reach that thick jammy stage. It was quite balanced and a very good value. I’d even serve this one to guests. I think it’s good drinking now. I’m not sure how long it will last. Probably not more than a few years.
Here and there
April 19, 2008 by Leave a Comment
Greetings Wine Lovers! I want to share a couple of wines I had tonight. The first is a German pinot noir. A 2005 Hans Lang Maximilian Edition pinot noir to be exact. I haven’t experienced red wines from Germany before so I was excited to try this. Not unexpectedly it had a nice light color and aromas of acid and strawberries mingling with sour cherry candy. On the palate it was very interesting. First you get hit with a spicy black pepper that I just adore. Then your mouth tingles with fresh red raspberries and strawberries. It is certainly light and low on tannins but very interesting overall. The finish is subdued but clean. The acid is nicely balanced. It wasn’t razor sharp but did show its presence. Overall a very nice light pinot noir with an intriguing complexity.
I fell in love with zinfandel in the early 1990’s when they were making big peppery zins in California. Lately the zins have been more sweet than spicy with tons of over the top jammy fruit. It’s not that I don’t like that but I miss the more refined fruit and black pepper of my youth. This 2003 Kenwood Jack London Vineyard zin is definitely made in the newer style. Right away on the nose you get huge blackberry jam. You can just tell it is fruity and almost sweet tasting from the aromas. On the palate, however, I was nicely surprised. It was jammy and full of black and red berries, but it wasn’t the over the top fruit bomb that I expected. Nice wood mingling with fruits and just a hint of that spice that I like so much. It is definitely zinny in all aspects. It is actually a nice marriage of the zins I remember from long ago and the zins being made today.