[wine] Sonoma Zins

Just in time for BBQ season. Cheers, Jim Sonoma Zinfandel: The Chronicle Recommends Jon Bonnéunday, May 6, 2012 Zinfandel is California's grape, and nowhere has it found a home like Sonoma County, where more than 5,300 acres are devoted to it. If you want a barometer of the state of Zin, look no further. It has been a few years since we tasted broadly across the spectrum of these Zins - and even longer since we looked at Sonoma's historical strength: red field blends, based on Zinfandel, but bringing in Carignane, Alicante Bouschet, Petite Sirah and more as a supporting cast. It's what has brought Sonoma decades of success on both sides of Prohibition. This tasting of more than 60 wines began as an examination of field blends, which have been resurging in recent years. Practitioners like Bucklin and Bedrock are matching new toil to old vines. These can be added to ranks of longtime efforts - both low-key table wines like Forchini's Papa Nonno, and ambitious fare like Ridge's Geyserville - in showing the best of Sonoma's strengths. The use of a handful of other grapes, including white grapes for a red wine, adds structure, acidity and complexity in a way that no tinkering in the cellar can match. Is Zin still struggling with its identity? For sure. (For more, go to sfg.ly/zinCLSH.) The same braggardly efforts of the past were on full display here; there's a lot of new oak being trucked down Lytton Springs Road. But the 2009 and 2010 vintages, both more moderate (though with heat spikes in 2010 that were especially unkind to Zin), perfectly framed a style of the wine that its longtime loyalists will remember. Which is to say that some delicious and vibrant wines were found in the mix - including efforts from names like Paradise Ridge and Limerick Lane that have shone in past years. Quality can be seen in established names (Bella) and new ones (Horse & Plow). On balance, for those taking their Zin seriously in Sonoma, there are at least two vintages to show just how compelling its Zinfandels can be when given a chance for the freshness of the fruit to shine. On those field blends: The more interest in going back to that bit of benevolent chaos in the vineyards, the happier we all should be. It was one of California viticulture's best ideas in the decades before blending became a fancy thing. Perhaps it doesn't mesh with a winemaking culture that can be a bit OCD at times, but it's one spot where the wisdom of winemaking past has a lot to offer in the present day. 2010 Bedrock Old Vine Sonoma Valley Zinfandel ($22, 14.8% alcohol): Morgan Twain-Peterson already has a reputation for Zinfandel-focused wines, but with the 2010s his true finesse is on display. This blended bottle is still a bit shut, but as it opens you sense a tremendous lift to the flavors: dusky plum and brambly fruit amid cassia and floral scents. Dynamic, notably complex and showing Zin's seriousness. 2009 Seghesio San Lorenzo Alexander Valley Red ($60, 15%): Seghesio uses its oldest parcel, bought in 1896 and still planted to a field blend, for this tribute to their long winemaking history. It's built for utter seriousness (and priced to match) - complex, tight-knit and showing a beetroot bite to match delicate white-flower aromas and a multihued brambliness. The subtlety of its tannins offers a broad, fine-grained structure to support its estimable body. 2009 Forchini Papa Nonno Dry Creek Valley Red ($19, 14.3%): Jim Forchini has been working his vineyard in Dry Creek since 1976, a site that includes century-old vines. With Cabernet and Carignane, and 5 percent mixed white grapes, in the mix along with a majority of Zinfandel, this is layered and aromatic, with mineral and apple blossoms, bay laurel, raspberry and roasted plum. An amazingly complex bottle for the money. 2010 Ridge Geyserville Sonoma County Red ($37, 14.3%): The modest vintage, and a smaller amount of new oak, left Ridge's Sonoma wines with a lot of pent-up energy, enough that they'll reward a couple years in the cellar. Geyserville's dusty huckleberry fruit (from a mix of Zinfandel with Carignane, Petite Sirah and more) shows up as the wine opens, matched by remarkable tension on the palate: nutmeg, mint, currant and an intensely chewy profile. Give it time to get really interesting. 2009 Bella Maple Vineyard Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel ($38, 14.4%): Bella's aristocratic style uses mostly older oak for fruit from the Maple family's dry-farmed clay and loam site. Nuanced and vanilla-tinged, with game meat and dust to the cooked raspberry and dried currant fruit, and a beech-bark accent that adds to its savory side. 2009 Sandler Buck Hill Vineyard Sonoma County Zinfandel ($27, 15%): Ed Kurtzman has shifted his Pinot talents (August West, Freeman) to Zin, tapping this site near Kick Ranch, east of Santa Rosa. A sweet and generous approach, with fresh raspberry, hay and distinct aniseed, and pleasantly chewy tannins. 2010 Hawley Winery Ponzo Vineyard Russian River Valley Zinfandel ($30, 14.8%): John Hawley brings his long experience (Clos du Bois, Kendall-Jackson) to this gravelly site just outside Healdsburg. The result is a tangy, nuanced example of Russian River's potential with Zinfandel. A bit rooty and showing some violet perfume and tree bark accents to the plum and raspberry fruit. 2009 Limerick Lane Block 1970 Russian River Valley Zinfandel ($36, 14.4%): This much-loved property is now controlled by Marietta Cellars' Bilbro family, and they have applied their blending talents to its bottlings, the youngest of which is from 42-year-old vines. Dusky, tangy and a touch sweet, with plum and candied violet, it shows great bones: a dusty minerality and big tannic backbone. For truly old vines, there's the cardamom-edged 2009 Limerick Lane Block 1910 ($48, 14.8%), which shows the subtlety that old Zin vines can offer. 2009 Paradise Ridge Hoenslaars Vineyard Russian River Valley Zinfandel ($40, 13.8%): The Byck family's winery has a reputation for Zins that speak a bit more quietly, The estate bottle shows a dusky, dusty profile, with creamy raspberry, plum skin, birch bark and chamomile. Refreshingly bright and tangy to the taste, and great potential to age. 2010 Rock Wall Harris Kratka Vineyard Alexander Valley Zinfandel ($35, 15%): A delicious, if slightly atypical, effort from the Rosenblum family's new winery. From a red-soiled vineyard with a long history in Alexander Valley, it shows a solid dose of up-front oak, but beyond that there's great freshness to the currant fruit and a pervading kirschy warmth. 2009 Unti Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel ($28, 14.8%): Mick Unti's wines can take a while to unfurl, and this 2009 from his estate site is still a good year away from uncorking. Full of dust and plum, it has a tight-knit, slightly raw profile, like raw meat and celery seed. There's pleasure in its subtle dark fruit and fenugreek spice, but it'll be better with some cellar time. 2010 Horse & Plow Grist Vineyard Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel ($30, 14.5%): Chris Condos and Suzanne Hagins tapped this organically farmed 1,000-foot-elevation site, planted in 1974, for a curious take on Dry Creek Zin - perhaps too curious for some, given the debate we had as we tasted. The fruit flavors lean to freshly pressed cider, tasty but seeming barely finished. Beyond that, it's curious and fun: blossoms and gorgeous raspberry fruit, fennel, a zesty kick. If you try it, give it air. 2010 Hobo Wine Co. Branham Rockpile Vineyard Rockpile Zinfandel ($30, 14.6%): Kenny Likitprakong's label offers up a gorgeously fresh take on Rockpile - black plum, perfume, dark mineral and mint stem to offset the killer tannins, with a dense, tension-filled profile (age it a couple of years) that's similarly found in Hobo's Dry Creek Valley bottle ($22, 14.4%). 2010 Buena Vista Sonoma County Zinfandel ($13, 13.5%): Now owned by the Boisset empire, this historic Sonoma property has turned back to the past with a label that looks like a stock certificate that Agoston Harazsthy might have held. Their basic bottle makes the best of a straightforward approach, tangy, fresh and showing solid Zin berry fruit. 2009 Mazzocco West Dry Creek Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel ($32, 16.2%): Take it or leave it, but Mazzocco's style swings for the rafters: flashy oak, lots of raisin flavors and unapologetic sweetness. There's also plenty of intrigue from this newer (1996) hillside site - dusty tannins, pie crust and deep cherry fruit, with no shortage of alcoholic heat. If you like amplitude in your Zin, this is strong catnip. Panelists: Jon BonnéChronicle wine editor; Mike Millett, wine buyer, Rainbow Grocery; Tonya Pitts, manager and sommelier, One Market. Jon Bonnés The San Francisco Chronicle's wine editor. Read more of his wine coverage at www.sfgate.com/wine. Twitter: @jbonne. jbonne(a)sfchronicle.com http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/05/06/FDQ41OC3GR.DTL This article appeared on page G - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle -- ------------------------------ * Dr. James Ellingson, jellings(a)me.umn.edu * * mobile : 651/645-0753 * * Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 * * james(a)brewingnews.com James.Ellingson(a)StThomas.edu *