Not the zin I wanted
It usually around this time of year, where the coziness of winter hasn’t completely morphed into the gray loathing for the end of the cold, that I turn to my favorite of fruit bombs.
I usually don’t like fruit-forward wines, especially made from varietals like merlot, cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, pinot noir and syrah. Balance, backbone, a little spice, some earth, smoke, tannin, that’s usually what I want. But there’s one grape I believe does best when it’s used to make a deep fruit explosion in a glass, and that’s zinfandel. The sweet black fruit, vanilla spice, and sometimes candy notes in a high-alcohol, viscous package seem to quench my wine sweet tooth in ways less sugary than standbys like port, sherry and late-harvest wines do.
Last night, that’s what I wanted, and I think I came up empty.
Castlebank Old Vines Zinfandel, 2007, Dry Creek Valley – $15
On the recommendation of a wine shop owner in Ronkonkoma, I picked up this wine, turning down the Lodi Ravenswood I was eying. At 14.7 percent alcohol, and with the thumbs up from a guy who usually makes great picks, I felt it was a safe bet that it was the monster I was after. Not so.
On the nose there was plenty of fresh black cherry, and a little bit of cherry candy, but way too much oak.
The palate was very hot, I sensed the octane level right away. It had loads of oak, and not creamy American vanilla toasted oak, but a tighter, woodsier flavor. The fruit was black cherry with a lot of cherry candy, which, with the heat, came off like a shot of cherry NyQuil. It had hints of bitter dark chocolate, and dry finish with a fair amount of acid and tannin.
After airing out a while the wine’s rough edges did soften up, which let the vanilla come through the jammy black cherry.
On Castlebank’s Web site you can see this is the only wine they make, which they ferment in steel and age 11 months in a mix of seasoned American and new French oak. It could be this wine just needs time.
Could the wine shop owner have recommended a structured Zin when I wanted a syrupy beast? Maybe.
Flickr photo by waynemah
© 2010, Henry E. Powderly II. All rights reserved.
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