Does lower alcohol Zin exist?

I just bought a couple of bottles of Starkey's Court 2008 Sonoma Valley Zinfandel, because it won Best of Class at the Sonoma County Harvest Fair and I wanted to see what the talk was about. But I'm about to go take the second bottle back to the store. It's 16.2% alcohol, and when opened the first bottle last night, I could NOT drink it with dinner. (Dinner was goat shanks with white beans, onions, tomato and basil.)

I used to like Zinfandel because it paired well with a lot of spicy foods I like to cook, but if I can't find some lower alcohol, food friendly version I'll have to look for something else to fill that bill. Any suggestions?

I am one of the least experieced wine-oriented individuals on this board but in that experience high alcohol CA wines, especially Zin, seem to be the rule. I have had to go to South Americe or Australia to get back to the 12 to 13% that seems, to me, to provide more balance. I await what others have to say, some of which I hope are recommendations.

The Eric Ross Old Vine Zinfandel, Cody's Block is listed at 14.8%. Perhaps some of Steele's Zinfandels come in below 15% alcohol. The Steele Catfish Zinfandel (the 2007 is sold out) from Lake County, CA habitually has a more subtle profile than some of the Sonoma County zins.

I feel your pain. This is why I no longer drink Zinfandel except Rafanelli but think they are only on mailing lists. I also try not to open anything over 14-14.5% alc. Not sure why anyone would want to drink or make a 16+ wine but they do. Ridge used to be my favorite but all of their zins are at least 14.7% to over 15%, better but still very alcoholic. Why not try Rhones(my favorite food wine) with shanks or something with some acidity such as Burgs or Chianti if there is a dominate tomatoe flavor. Bet you couldn't even taste the tomatoe with the zin. OK, I feel better and will get off my soap box.
Walt

PS to Jon Peterson: Where do you get a 12-13% Australian wine?

I'd imagine others more knowledgeable may chime in, but I was able to find Dashe's "Les E'nfants Terrible" Heart Arrow Ranch zin at 13.6% on their website.

There have to be others out there....

Keep an eye out for Primitivo from Italy, of which many still come in under 14% and can be really interesting. Sadly there appears a trend with it's genetic linking to US Zin, to try and ape the big Zin style and I'm guessing many of those exported to the US will fall into this camp.

regards

Ian

PS to Jon Peterson: Where do you get a 12-13% Australian wine?

Not Jon Peterson, but...

- Wendouree, if you can find them.
- A lot of the more traditional/lighter styled guys in Victoria (Best's, Yering Station, Yarra Yering, Mount Mary, Mt. Langi Ghiran, Tahbilk, etc come to mind)
- Tasmania
- Mornington Peninsula Pinot can be fairly moderate
- some of the older Tyrrell's stuff from NSW
- Hunter Semillon - actually, scratch that, 12-13% would be high for Hunter Semillon
- Plenty of Western Aussie Riesling

Yes.

I don't know the numbers but some of the softer style Zins might work such as Rafanelli, Nalle, Cline, David Caffaro.

I had the Starkey's Court at the fair and thought it came across somewhat sweet.

Leanne, I see that the other Bob H has already mention Nalle wines, and I second that recco. Doug Nalle makes some wonderful zins, and IMO they age better than a lot of others. Anyway, His wines generally run <14% and while that is more than I like, it is one of the lower alc zins around. Another thing is that they are upward of $30 a bottle so I don't buy them as much as I used to.

Sky from Mount Veeder comes in quite low in alcohol. But, the wine tastes very "different" than the big fruity zins you may be used to...you've heard of "Pinots tasting like a Zin" well sky is a zin that tastes (kinda sorta) like a Pinot.

The new Matt Cline zins from his "Three" project are still in the high 14s but do not taste hot at all. Given that there are field blends and very old vines involved, I was very impressed!

You might look for 2006 Clockspring, Amador County, Zin. Also Boho Vineyards California Zin which comes in a box, and has been recommended on this site. Both weigh in at 13.5%, and may be what you're looking for. We also echo the recommendations for Primitivo.

[Jenise]

Leanne, I'm mostly just piling on to what others have said, but wanted to give you some background. One is that California is just plain hotter than it used to be making high alcohol zins even more prevalent, and secondly some producers are deliberately producing that high alcohol style which is typically sweeter and heavier than a lower alcohol wine--with lower acidity to boot. As you experienced, terrible food wines and not even something most of us want to drink at any other time. A horrible thing to happen to such a great grape, isn't it?

But here's what you can do: always check the label before you buy and don't even waste your time looking for lower alcohol zin from hotspots like Paso Robles and Lodi. Sonoma's getting iffy too, but some really nice stuff is coming out of the cooler Mendocino area, and there are some Amador producers dedicated to keeping the alcohols in check. "Low" anymore is under 15%. Sobon Winery in Amador County is one of the dedicated producers I refer to: when I want a good spicy zin it's my favorite among what's available where I live, and their wines rarely exceed 14.5%. They make five or six different versions including an old vines and several single vineyard sites.

A horrible thing to happen to such a great grape, isn't it?

Wait, I thought the topic was about Zinfandel.

(Sorry, couldn't resist )

Bob H, I was happy to find out about your blog, since local information is very useful.

When I took the bottle back to Bottle Barn, they pointed out two zins at 13.5: Dry Creek Sonoma County Heritage 2008 and Teira Sonoma County 2006.
I bought a bottle of each but I haven't had a chance to try them yet.

I did meantime open a 13.9 Merlot from Coturri: Feingold Vineyard 2004 (Bennet Valley)

Thanks for the tips,
Leanne

Zin is notorious for its uneven ripeness. On a single cluster you can have a couple of “grape green-shots”, un-ripe fruit, perfectly ripe fruit, and over-ripe fruit (raisins). It’s these various fruit components, which define the Zin wine’s characteristics. The unripe fruit contributes acidity, the ripe fruit contributes fruity aromas and flavors, and the raisins, besides contributing alcohol, gives the wine concentration and depth. Now depending upon the proportions of these various fruit components (or ripeness level of the fruit) will (or should) dictate what style of Zin is produced.

Salute

I just had a Zin with 12.5% alcohol from Sabastini, It was the Northern California bottling and ..........

Of course it was from 1976. Here is my tasting notes copied from another forum.

"A great old German style label with the words "Unique "Bramble" Flavor. 12.5% alcohol. My friend purchases when the Sabastiani's split up some time ago.

Wow, this thing blew me away! Bright garnet and translucent in color. Fragrant nose, slight berries, so balanced and yet still with a good amount of power. Wine has changed into something rather elegant, but again, with power and finesse. Still rather primary after all these years, fruit up front but with good structure, old wood, cigar, spices behind it. The latter items were a bit muddled but still a 34 year old bottle that made it to now and still had enough to be enjoyed."

I often wonder why more people don't have old sins around given that they may indeed age a bit. This one showed that there is indeed life for these wines and that night for dinner, more than a few old sins were pulled out, this was by far the best.

Michael K, a time machine would solve all sorts of problems.

I would have to look at the labels, but Joseph Swan Zins, at least some of them, are in the lower ABV ranges...

However, to make it all about alcohol is, IMHO, a mistake. Well-made wine, with balance and fruit and acidity, can co-exist with different levels of ABV. Alcohol is obvious when there is not enough fruit to carry it, and I don't mean the fruit has to be huge. I've had 16%+ wines (Rhone style) that I would not have guessed to be so high w/o looking at the label. I don't remember having such a high ABV Zin, but I bet I have.

I often wonder why more people don't have old sins around given that they may indeed age a bit.

My old sins are mostly in the attic, but some sneak downstairs.

I often wonder why more people don't have old sins around given that they may indeed age a bit.

My old sins are mostly in the attic, but some sneak downstairs.

[Jenise]

I just had a Zin with 12.5% alcohol from Sabastini, It was the Northern California bottling and...Wow, this thing blew me away!

Michael, about ten years ago I had the opportunity to buy a bunch of 70's vintage California wines that were being sold off from the storage unit of some fellow who passed away. The man had chosen well and most were at least interesting, but by far the most spectacular was a single vineyard zin from Fetzer, of all people. Seriously wicked stuff.

Did anyone see this article in the NY Times?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/13/dining/13wine.html?_r=1

Thank you, Joy, that's a helpful article.