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And the last bloody pulpit for 2001:
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AmadorFoothill Winery: I've followed Ben & Katie Zeitman's wines from
the very start. In general, I've rather liked them. Ben&Katie, however,
certainly march to the beat of their own drummer when it comes to making
Zin. They are very atypical of Amador Zins, in general, and have a style
all their own; sort of a throw-back to the "food wine" Zins that became
the rage in the early '80's and have since fallen from favor. Their wines
have a refreshing/brisk tartness that is not often found in Zins. Although
they have good/healthy alcohol levels, they don't show the richness &
ripeness & lushness of most Zins. What has always struck me about their
Zins is that they usually show a wonderful perfumey fragrance to them &
very little oak. Thus I was interested in trying these two '90's to see
how "food Zins" hold up to aging. Not so well, I would have to say. The
fragrance is gone, the fruit has receded into a quiet whisper, the tannins
have become raspy, and the teeth-chattering acidity makes these wine difficult
to taste. The reminded me a bit of Italian Barberas, wines that cry out
for food.
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Renwood: I've followed Scott Harvey's Zins from the very start, first at
Santino/Renwood and now at Folie a Deux. I didn't always like them that
much. His early wines at Santino were very much in the "food wine" category,
not particularly alcoholic, not very extracted, nice, but just that. He
was very clear in his intent to avoid the stereotypical Amador Zins that
were high in alcohol and extract and make more food-friendly Zins. It was,
I would say, an abysmal failure, a big mistake. Finally, with the '91 vintage,
after listening to my continual harping on the subject for years, Scott
pulled out all stops and went back to making no-holds-barred, full-bore
Amador Zins. The wines were a great success and our group bought
a $hitload (as we say in Kansas.... and we know of what we speak!!) of
them at great prices. After the '91's, I always enjoyed the gloating "told
you so" with Scott. So I was looking forward to trying these "new(old)
wave" Zins at 10 yrs of age. The regular Amador, though still drinkable,
is about to give up the ghost. But the GrandPere is still in fine shape,
has calmed down considerably, and still a lovely drinking classic Amador
Zin.
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Food Wines: I've followed Zinfandel in Calif from the very start; tasting
the first crop off ol' Gus Harazsthy's vines at BuenaVista back then. In
the early '70's, when it was finally recognized that Zin can make
great wine, a number of wineries pushed the limit on the grapes, going
for alcohol, flavor, extraction, and oak. Then a bunch of the wine writers
of that day (Charlie Olken... you know who you are!!) started whining about
these alcoholic "monster" Zins with "shabby" table manners (sound
familar, Charlie?). Alas, then, as now, the wine consumers paid too much
attention to these wretched scribes. So... the winemakers started to make
"food wine" Zins that were much more restrained and balanced and elegant.
Anemic/scrawny little runts is how I would characterize them. And, the
worst of it all, White Zin became the rage. And, alas, Syrah was not yet
there to take up the slack. So I lived thru years of sheer torture thru
the '80's, and just about gave up on Zinfandel. Fortunately, the winemakers
(and their customers) done see'd the light and have returned, in the late
'80's, early '90's to making Zin like it should be made. What strikes me
most about the early-'70's vs current Zins, with their elevated alcohol
levels of 15% and above, is the current ones have a balance those early
ones didn't and a lack of the pruney/raisened flavors those early ones
often had. Now, with spinning cones and osmosis and other gee-whiz thingeys,
we can now get Zins with the "right" flavors but w/o the elevated alcohols....
if that's what you really want!!
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Ridge Grenache: Much like their Syrah, the Ridge Grenaches speak more of
Ridge red wine than of strong varietal character. The strawberry/Grenache
is more of a nuance than anything. Not particularly profound, just
nice dringing Ridge red.
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Ridge Paso Robles Zins: When Ridge first started making Paso Zin back in
the mid-'70's, they were my least favorite Ridge reds. They seemed to have
a chalky/earthy character and lacked the rich/lush/plump fruit of their
Ridge stablemates. But Ridge has really learned how to work w/ Benni Dusi's
fruit and, now, makes one of my most favorite Paso Zins. They seem to show
a lot of that jammy/blackberry Paso fruit w/o the overripe character they
often show from other wineries.
TomHill
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