2005 Cline Ancient Vines Contra Costa Zinfandel

This wine was one of the mixed case we picked up at Costco about a year ago. We chose it because Matt Cline is the winemaker at our favorite house of Zin - Trinitas.

This was the 1st bottle of the 3 I had with Mandy when she came to visit. An '05 is a little on the young side, but I was scraping for something to drink that would not upset my wife. That damn diet again! I figured that if this was outstanding that being a Cline it would be easy to replace.

The presentation was excellent. It came in a traditional Zinfandel bottle. I'm not sure what the 3¢ stamp on the label is supposed to signify, but as it's canceled with an Oakley postmark my guess would be that it has something to do with the acquisition of Cline's Oakley vineyards. The front label has the legals, and the rear contains some good supporting info like Cline's definition of Ancient (80-100 years), why you should care that the grapes are that old, tasting notes, and terrior. They even declare where the minority of the grapes come from (Lodi) which they do not have to do with a County designated wine like this one.

Cline's website is excellent. It gives great info on their vineyards, practices, and history. The tasting notes are also similarly detailed.

It was stoppered with a real cork that left no tattoo. Given the youth of the wine, I was not surprised at the lack of sediment that this implies.

It had a good colour, but was more translucent than I would expect given the varietal and age of the vines.

Initial nose was charcoal and anise.

The swirl yielded a single leg; unusual as with the 14½% ABV I would expect more. The swirl also brought dark fruit to the nose, but none at all on the taste.

After a few minutes open, I did get a hint of fruit. More with every sip, but I don't think It will ever yield any Jam.

I decided to decant it, and we all headed out to Rosenblum for a tasting whilst the Cline breathed in the decanter. Upon our return, it had indeed opened up better, gaining a meaty texture like a mushroom. More fruit. SaraGrace got Cherry's and Plums, and Mandy said it was "Yummy".

I do have another bottle, and I will hold it for at least a year, if not more and probably decant it the morning of the day I plan on drinking it.

The Verdict:

Not as full flavoured as an old vine zin should be. This wine also suffers from being sold to young. It will age to be at least a good wine, but by the time I can tell if it will be outstanding, there will no longer be any available for purchase.

Style:	Zinfandel
Varietals:	Zinfandel, Alicante Bouschet, Carignane
Appellation/Terrior:	Contra Costa County, California
Vintage:	2005
Vintner:	Cline
Alcohol:	14.5% by Volume
Price:	$18.00SRP

2002 Danzānte Della Sicilia Merlot

I do not remember where I picked up this bottle of Sicilian Merlot, given the appearance of Robert Mondavi's name on the label, it is likely that it was a gift rather than something that I purchased myself. If indeed it was a gift, and if the giver is reading, then my sincerest apologies for forgetting, and my thanks for the gift.

The presentation was excellent. It came in a traditional Bordeaux style bottle. Given that this is an Italian wine, the labeling requirements are different than most of the wines that I talk about here. The minimums are here, EU quality (IGT) and geographic indicator (Della Sicilia), vintage, and booze content. This wine could never be granted the more prestigious DOC or DOCG indicators as it is made with grapes not traditional to the region where they are grown. IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica) is more like an American AVA in that it indicates that the overwhelming majority of the grapes that make up this wine were grown in the region specified, and that the region has a history of winemaking and the expectation that the region is beneficial to the craft. (DOC and DOCG carry varietal requirements as well).
The label is also marked with the names of the owners of the winery - Bob Mondavi and "Marchesi De' Frescobaldi" (Italian for "The Marquis of cool-self confidence"). You should be familiar with Mondavi; Frescobaldi is an Italian winery of like size.
The rear label gives some tidbits as well; tasting notes, harvesting info, and history of the IGT as well as the names of the actual wine makers - Tim Mondavi and Lamberto Frescobaldi.

There are extensive tasting notes on the Danzante website add quite a bit of value when choosing this wine.

It had an amalgamated cork. There was no penetration and it left no tattoo.

The wine was more translucent that I would expect from a Merlot; almost like a Pinot. It did have a good red colour, reminicent of a checkered tablecloth at a pizza resturant.

It had blueberries on the nose and a hint of smoke - but since I had just fired up the BBQ; the smoke could have been on my hands.

The swirl left 4 legs on one side of the glass, and more fruit on the nose. Perhaps pomegranate, and believe it or not grapes. It was light and sweet tasting; but the sweetness was an illusion as at 13% it's fairly dry. That's a neat trick; to give the illusion of sweetness. Some vintners (Rosenblum) do that by overwhelming the wine with fruit; it was more delicate here.

After the full pour I got more of the classical Bordeaux on the nose; it should go well with Beef (which coincidentally is what I was having for dinner).

I like it. I wish I could remember where I acquired it.

After about 1½ hours I got boysenberries and apples on the tongue, and yes it did go well with the tri-tip that I was smoking with lavender.

The Verdict:

My predjudice against the Mondavi's was overcome by this wine. If all Merlot's were this good then I would not have a bias against Bordeaux style wine. Must be the Italian influence :-)

Style:	Bordeaux
Varietals:	Merlot
Appellation/Terrior:	Della Sicilia IGT, Italy,
Vintage:	2002
Vintner:	Danzānte
Alcohol:	13% by Volume
Price:	Gift

2000 Ciardella Santa Cruz Mt Pinot Noir

I have not written about any wine recently because my wife is on a grape-free diet and I dislike drinking alone. I was able to break this Bacchus free streak with the arrival from England of a dear friend of mine, Mandy. On Friday night we opened three wines, (two previously un-reviewed) and on Saturday, a Pinot with my dad's girl friend (my dad does not drink reds), and Sunday for dinner a bottle from the old world.

Today's wine is from a friend of mine from my days at Borland in Santa Cruz, Randy of the Redwoods. Randy, no longer lives amongst the redwoods, but instead he's trying to open a winery just south of the Willammette valley and over the CA border north of Shasta. When Randy did live in the redwoods, he volunteered at some of the mountain wineries and I believe that this wine was a gift from him.

The presentation was good. It came in a traditional Burgundy style bottle with an attractive pen and ink of grapes on the label. The front label has the legals, and the back covers some of the history of the vintner as well as a blurb about the climate in the AVA.

The winery has no website, but a quick Google on them returns a list of awards that their Burgundy style wines have won.

When I went to remove the stopper, I was disappointed to find a plastic capsule and an amalgamated cork. A plastic capsule does not detract from the flavour of the wine, but appears cheap. The cork was penetrated about 1/8 in and left a very light tattoo.

The wine was the colour of dried blood , but translucent as you would expect in a Pinot. There was vinegar on the nose - which along with the colour worried me, as this wine spent at least 12 months in questionable storage at our ski cabin rather than in my cellar.

After a legless swirl, the vinegar nose dissipated, and the initial taste was tangy - almost like it was still fermenting which it should not have been doing.

Despite this, the wine still went down easy (as most Pinots do).

The Verdict:

Any conclusion would be unfair, as I was lax on it's storage conditions.

Style:	Burgundy
Varietals:	Pinot Noir
Appellation/Terrior:	Santa Cruz Mt. AVA, California
Vintage:	2000
Vintner:	Ciardella Vineyards
Alcohol:	12.5% by Volume
Price:	Gift

Mayo Family Winery Valley Hospitality Center

On Easter Sunday we were driving through Sonoma county on our way home from Safari West. We chose this route so as to allow us to stop at Kunde, where I was looking forward to tasting some row designated Zins. Alas, it was Easter and there was a dearth of tasting rooms that were open. The first open tasting room that we came across was the attractive Mayo Family Winery.

When they sat "Family Winery" they really mean it. Every member of the Mayo family, up to and including distant cousins work at the winery. Our pourer was Courtney, who is some sort of a cousin to the founders on what she called "The Family Internship".

The tasting room was in a glorious setting. Set amid the vineyards in a new barn-like structure at the intersection of two country roads. The atmosphere inside was conducive to a pleasant tasting experience (even if it was a bit crowded; which I will forgive them for being the only open tasting room for miles). Courtney was very accommodating by allowing us to substitute reds from the regular tasting list for the whites on the reserve list. She also told us some good stories about the vineyard and the Mayo family.

The wines were nice. Although they produce some purportedly good Zins, we didn't get to try any as they had sold out; however Courtney did sell us some pre-release Zin on the promise that we would cellar it. They did have a varietal that you do not see very often outside of a blend: Carignane. That was refreshing. I always like to see an unusual bottling every once in a while. It shows that the vintner is not afraid to experiment.

There was a tasting fee, but I don't remember how much as it was waived with my purchase.

The Verdict:

If I am in Glenn Ellen when they have some of their Zins on hand, I will stop in again.

Wine for Dummies

I bought this book a while back because we found that we were buying and tasting so much wine that we thought we should educate ourselves a little bit. It was not actually the first book we bought for this purpose, but the first book assumed that you were familiar with French wines, and we weren't, so we picked this guy up.

It makes a good bathroom read. It does not provide any real details on the differences between different AVA's or even varietals; but it does introduce some terminology and practices that should be useful to a newbie.

It was especially good at explaining why the French systems are in place, and what they really mean, and why you should care that a grape is a Bordeaux varietal or not.

What I did not like about it was it's winery recommendations. Each chapter had a recommended producer list associated with it, and they were all the supermarket wine producers (but then again; what can you expect from a book endorsed by Robert Mondavi himself)

The Verdict:

If you read my posts and don't know what I'm talking about, then it's a good buy. If you do know what i'm talking about, then it could still be an interesting browse.

Rosenblum Red Rangers

Rosenblum has two tasting rooms - one in wine country and the other at the winery in Alameda CA, less than 2 miles as the crow flies from my front door. It was founded by a hobbiest, Veterinarian Kent Rosenblum and has evolved into a good sized operation with about 50 single vineyard wines. Rosenblums wines are what is refered to as "Fruit Bombs" by most aficianados. It's a style well adapted to Mataro, Petite Syrah and Zinfandel but IMHO less well adapted to the other Rhône, Burgundy, and Bordeaux varietals that the good Dr. makes.

Rosenblum's wine club is slightly different in their wine club memberships; most winery's offer a Whites only, a Reds only or a mixed club. Rosenblum offers 3 clubs as well; Premier, Red Rangers, Explorer's Club. The difference primarily lies in your commitment: Monthly, Bimonthly or Quarterly.

The club gives a less than stellar 10% discount and complimentary tastings.

They also promise admission to the annual club party and BBQ.

We joined this club for two reasons:

• They are close - Every time Rosenblum changes what they pour in the tasting room we can easily drop by and taste it for free. And when you like The Good Doctor's style of wines, that's a big deal.
• The party - The wine club BBQ is a much heralded Alameda event.

The Verdict:

We like their wine enough for reason #1 to be almost enough to keep us as members; and as they have not had the BBQ since we've become members; we'll see if reason #2 is enough to throw it over the top come June.

Trinitas Wine Society

The Trinitas Winery is unvisitable. But it has some of the best wines that I have ever tasted. I initially found them because I was looking for the holy grail of old-growth zins - I wanted to find the oldest zinfandel vineyard in the world and drink it down. What I found was Matt Cline and Erin Jacuzzi's hobby winery. Both the Clines and the Jacuzzi's have been in the California wine business since the days of redwood barrels. The Cline family has huge holdings and makes oceans of wine. Trinitas is what they do for fun, and the Zin I mentioned is from a little vineyard in Oakley that frikkin rocks.

The club gives the usual 20% discount and complimentary tastings at the Meritage resort in Napa.

Shipments are 2 wines each 3 times a year, targeted to cost $65.00 plus tax and shipping a shipment.

They also promise "Special release wines not offered to the public" and "Large format bottles" as well as "Invitation to winemaker dinners in Northern and Southern California and Invitation to our annual barrel tasting"

When I joined the Trinitas Wine Society, it was literally the only way to purchase their wine, and even now most of the wine offered to me as a member is not available from their website to non members. The absolute best Cabernet Sauvignon I ever had came from a Trinitas shipment. It was part of a 47 case production of ancient vine cab. I have also tasted several varietals and cuvées that I would not have tried from anyone else including an old vine Mataro and Black Malvoisie.

I have yet to be offered large format bottles or invitations to anything; but I have only been a member for 2 shipments - lets wait and see what happens at harvest time.

The Verdict:

I love their wine so much that you would have to pry my membership from my cold dead fingers. Since I like their wine this much, and it is not really available to non-members then the membership is completely worth having.