[wine] Many shades of (red) Zin

The Zen of Zin? ----- Forwarded message from The 30 Second Wine Advisor <wine(a)wineloverspage.com> ----- Authentication-Results: smtp-relay.enet.umn.edu from=wine(a)wineloverspage.com; sender-id=neutral; spf=neutral Date: Mon, 4 Aug 2008 12:14:01 -0400 (EDT) To: jellings(a)me.umn.edu Subject: 30SecWineAdvisor: Wine Focus - The styles of Zin From: The 30 Second Wine Advisor <wine(a)wineloverspage.com> X-Sender: <wine(a)wineloverspage.com> X-Greylist: IP, sender and recipient auto-whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-4.0 (smtp-relay.enet.umn.edu [128.101.142.227]); Mon, 04 Aug 2008 11:09:30 -0500 (CDT) X-Spam-Score: 0 () X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.57 on 128.101.142.227 THE 30 SECOND WINE ADVISOR, Monday, Aug. 4, 2008 ________________________________________________________________________ TODAY'S SPONSOR * THE CALIFORNIA WINE CLUB No Billing and No Shipping Until December with The California Wine Club. Deep discounts on holiday gifts reserved now! http://www.cawineclub.com/?utm_source=wadv&utm_medium=banner ________________________________________________________________________ IN THIS ISSUE * WINE FOCUS - THE STYLES OF ZIN Okay, so you love Zinfandel. But which Zin? Zinfandel styles may range from elegant and claret-like to intense, high-alcohol blockbusters. * THE CALIFORNIA WINE CLUB No Billing and No Shipping Until December with The California Wine Club. Deep discounts on holiday gifts reserved now! * PEACHY CANYON 2006 "INCREDIBLE RED" PASO ROBLES ZINFANDEL ($11.99) Neither an old-fashioned "field blend" nor a modern "blockbuster," it falls close to the "claret-style" category. * THIS WEEK ON WINELOVERSPAGE.COM Randy "Bucko" Buckner reports on 100 new wines, and the WineLovers Discussion Group extensively debates the value of a "taste scale" for Riesling. * ADMINISTRIVIA Change E-mail address, frequency, format or unsubscribe. ________________________________________________________________________ WINE FOCUS - THE STYLES OF ZIN Okay, so you love Zinfandel. But which Zin? Perhaps more than any of the other top grape varieties except Riesling, which appears in dozens of guises, Zinfandel may be made in styles that range from elegant and claret-like to intense, high-alcohol blockbusters. Not counting the justly maligned White Zinfandel, I can think offhand of three major stylistic categories for Zin. Some of you may be able to come up with more: 1. Historic, classic-style California Zin, actually a rustic "field blend" of Zin with such other usual suspects as Petite Sirah, maybe Carignan and others. The Pedroncelli 2005 Dry Creek Valley Sonoma County "Mother Clone" Zinfandel featured in the July 23, 2008, 30 Second Wine Advisor, could be listed as a modern example of this style; Ridge Geyserville may be one of the most iconic examples. 2. Lighter, "claret-style" Zins with good fruit but lighter body and (relatively) low alcohol. The Peachy Canyon "Incredible Red" featured in my tasting notes below fit into this category for me. 3. The huge, blockbuster-style Zins, ranging upward from 15 percent alcohol, typically fruit bombs and often carrying a style that's reminiscent of berry liqueurs, tend to win high ratings points and are immensely popular with those who like them. More suited in my opinion as a cocktail than a food wine, it's not my favorite style of Zin. What's more, none of this takes into accunt regional differences in Zinfandels among the Sierra Foothills, Napa, Sonoma, Paso Robles and other distinctive growing areas in California alone. This month we're looking at Zinfandel as our online Wine Focus project for August, with a particular interest in examining the various styles that have emerged in this variety that came from Croatia to Italy and California and is grown in Australia and elsewhere, but that many now consider one of the most American of grapes. You're welcome to join the Wine Focus conversations with your comments on any Zin from any zone, and Italian Primitivo - which is genetically identical to Zinfandel - is certainly acceptable as an alternative, especially for those in Europe who may find it hard to get a good selection of Zin. When you post, it would be interesting to try to place your sample stylistically and discuss how the particular style works for you. Personally, I'm going to be following my usual practice of checking the alcohol content on the label before I buy, and rejecting those in the high-octane range. To participate in Wine Focus, simply click to http://www.wineloverspage.com/forum/village/viewforum.php?f=18 The discussions are open for public viewing, but you must register to post. Registration is free and easy; we ask only that you join following our Real Names Real Format system, using your real name in the format "John Doe" or "John D". ________________________________________________________________________ TODAY'S SPONSOR NO BILLING AND NO SHIPPING UNTIL DECEMBER WITH THE CALIFORNIA WINE CLUB It's that time of year again when The California Wine Club offers deep discounts on holiday gifts reserved now. Sure, we know that thinking about the holidays during the summer is tough to do. However, the money and time you save by planning now make it enormously rewarding in December! During Santa's Summer Sale, you'll save up to $89 per gift - even more for Signature Series gifts. Your credit card won't be billed until December, and your gifts will be scheduled to arrive right before the holidays. When you are ready to take advantage of the savings and reserve your holiday gifts, call 1-800-777-4443 or visit www.cawineclub.com. Pour yourself something cool, enjoy the summer sun and take a moment to make some holiday plans ... we know you will be glad you did. Gift memberships of award-winning, limited production wine start at $44.50 and include all shipping and handling. http://www.cawineclub.com/?utm_source=wadv&utm_medium=banner ________________________________________________________________________ PEACHY CANYON 2006 "INCREDIBLE RED" PASO ROBLES ZINFANDEL ($11.99) Consciously chosen as the only Zin under 14% alcohol on my neighborhood wine shop's shelf, this Central Coast Zin is dark ruby in color, with bright reddish-orange glints. Light red-berry aromas are pleasant but surprisingly subtle for a Zin, at least within the first hour after opening, but it does open up well with time, adding richer berry fruit after a couple of hours and even overnight. Good mouthfeel, tart, zingy fruit, definitely styled to go with food, with appropriately strong but not overpowering 13.9% alcohol. Neither an old-fashioned "field blend" nor a modern "blockbuster," it falls closer to the "claret-style" category, a niche that I was afraid had just about disappeared. (July 31, 2008) FOOD MATCH: Excellent with fresh local lamb chops crusted with pepper and pan-seared. VALUE: Twelve bucks? Buy it by the case, and doubly so if you find it discounted below this local price, which matches the winery price. But at least at this stage in its evolution, do give it an hour or two before dinner to open up more fully in the decanter or glass. WHEN TO DRINK: Ready to go now, but its performance under breathing suggests that this is one Zin that might gain a bit with a year or two of careful cellar time. WEB LINK: Here's a link to the Peachy Canyon Website, which includes wine sales and a mail-order wine club where the law permits: http://www.peachycanyon.com/ FIND THIS WINE ONLINE: Look for vendors and compare prices for Peachy Canyon "Incredible Red" on Wine-Searcher.com: http://www.wine-searcher.com/find/Peachy%2bIncredible/-/-/USD/A?referring_s… ________________________________________________________________________ TALK ABOUT WINE ONLINE If you have questions, comments or ideas to share about today's article or wine in general, you're always welcome to drop by our online WineLovers Discussion Group. This link will take you to the forum home page, where you can read discussions in all the forum sections: http://www.wineloverspage.com/forum/village Everyone is free to browse. If you'd like to post a comment, question or reply, you must register, but registration is free and easy. Do take care to register using your real name, or as a minimum, your real first name and last initial. Anonymous registrations are quietly discarded. To contact me by E-mail, write wine(a)wineloverspage.com. I'll respond personally to the extent that time and volume permit. ________________________________________________________________________ PRINT OUT TODAY'S ARTICLE Here's a simply formatted copy of today's Wine Advisor, designed to be printed out for your scrapbook or file or downloaded to your PDA or other wireless device. http://www.wineloverspage.com/wineadvisor2/2008/08/wine_focus_the_styles_of… ________________________________________________________________________ THIS WEEK ON WINELOVERSPAGE.COM * BUCKO'S WINE REPORTS: 100 new wines White wines and ros�s from around the world will refresh you during the dog days of summer, but you'll still need some big reds to go with that grilled steak. Randy "Bucko" Buckner reports this month on 100 new wines in a variety of categories. http://www.wineloverspage.com/bucko/bucko0708.phtml * WINELOVERS DISCUSSION GROUP: A "taste scale" for Riesling? Riesling is arguably one of the greatest grape varieties, but it can also be one of the most frustrating in that it comes in so many styles, not all obvious from the label. The WineLovers Discussion Group is talking about a new proposal for a definitive scale. What do you think? Come, join the conversation. http://www.wineloverspage.com/forum/village/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=17337 ________________________________________________________________________ LAST WEEK'S WINE ADVISOR INDEX The Wine Advisor's daily edition is usually distributed on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays (and, for those who subscribe, the FoodLetter on Thursdays). Here's the index to last week's columns. 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We do not use this list for any other purpose and will never give or sell your name or E-mail to anyone. All the wine-tasting reports posted here are consumer-oriented. In order to maintain objectivity and avoid conflicts of interest, I purchase all the wines I rate at my own expense in retail stores and accept no samples, gifts or other gratuities from the wine industry. Monday, August 4, 2008 Copyright 2008 by Robin Garr. All rights reserved. ----- End forwarded message ----- -- ------------------------------ * Dr. James Ellingson, jellings(a)me.umn.edu * * University of Minnesota, mobile : 651/645-0753 * * Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *