WTN: 2005 Rosenblum "Carla's Vy", San Francisco Bay

[Jenise]

I don't know which of us changed--me or the wine--but here's another Rosenblum that disappointed where Rosenblums, with the exception of the superripe Sauret Vineyard bottling from Paso, never used to. Bluish red color and medium plus body. Fruit of raspberry and beets gets jammier with every sip, and the milky softness of malolactic fermentation smooths out all the edges. Only, this is zinfandel. I don't want smooth edges!!! I want thorns! I want bramble! I want spice! I want 'tude!. And there's none here. At $27 locally, overpriced for what you get.

I tried that one at Wick's shop about 2 weeks ago. I agree with your note. It was disappointing, jammy and the alcohol really stuck out.
He had it next to the Seghesio Zinfandel home ranch which was much better, lots of briary bramble and while big, it didn't seem hot. It was an easy pass though at $40. I remember buying that Seghesio ZIn not that long ago for $24.

Looking forward to Monday!

[Jenise]

I tried that one at Wick's shop about 2 weeks ago. I agree with your note. It was disappointing, jammy and the alcohol really stuck out.
He had it next to the Seghesio Zinfandel home ranch which was much better, lots of briary bramble and while big, it didn't seem hot. It was an easy pass though at $40. I remember buying that Seghesio ZIn not that long ago for $24.

Looking forward to Monday!

That's where this bottle came from--I had a hole to fill in our neighborhood tasting Friday night, and on his reccomendation I ordered it and took the bottle on the shelf home to try. I can't tell you how relieved I was when he called an hour ago to tell me that there was a snafu in the pipeline and the Rosemblum isn't coming. Whew. Do you find that he's a bit impervious to alcohol? And, did he have the Forgeron at that tasting?

In the tasting were the 2 zins, and 2 Napa cabs. One of the Cabs was Frogs Leap from the Rutherford floor, and the other was from Spring mountain, I can't remember the name. He was trying to point out the difference in a wine made from the benchland compared with one from mountain grown fruit. The Frogs Leap was a simple, straight forward, drink now cab that was a little sweet, and the mountain one was more complex and much more structured. I didn't get to try the Forgeron.

I think Wick has a good palate but is much more geared to New World wine than I am, so he would have to be more tolerant of alcohol.

I used to like their wines too. But I almost went completely off Zin around 2000. I had finally given up after consecutive years of producers getting bigger, riper & hotter. It seemed many producers of this grape gave up on greatness and went for scores and pure hedonism. Nothing wrong with that, just wasn't for me other than the occasional cocktail.

But my recent tastings of Swan have reawakened my love for this "uniquely" Cali grape. It can be hedonistic yet balanced or it can be pretty and thought provoking.

Only, this is zinfandel. I don't want smooth edges!!! I want thorns! I want bramble! I want spice! I want 'tude!. And there's none here.

Interesting. I guess your right. That is what I usually want in Zin ... but I also enjoy what age can do which seems to smooth out the edges.... but they are smoothed out in the proper manner.

Cheers,

Jason

I don't know which of us changed--me or the wine--but here's another Rosenblum that disappointed where Rosenblums, with the exception of the superripe Sauret Vineyard bottling from Paso, never used to.

Jenise, to be honest I've never "got" Rosenblum's Zins, with the exception of Hendry Reserves from the '80s and early '90s. To me, they lack the structure and character of e.g. Ridge's and (formerly) Ravenswood's. It's a shame, because I like Kent R. and what he's done (and continues to do), but I'm past spending money on boring wine.

Mark Lipton

[Jenise]

with the exception of Hendry Reserves from the '80s and early '90s.

Good call--it was the Hendry and another vineyard, a 'K' word that's not Kafka but very close, in the early 90's that were what I knew and loved about Rosenblum zins, especially with some age on them. This was the first I'd bought in years.

[Jenise]

I used to like their wines too. But I almost went completely off Zin around 2000. I had finally given up after consecutive years of producers getting bigger, riper & hotter. But my recent tastings of Swan have reawakened my love for this "uniquely" Cali grape. It can be hedonistic yet balanced or it can be pretty and thought provoking.

Ditto, ditto. The pinotish Stellwagen with it's exotic Asian qualities was always my favorite, but the Frati and Ziegler could steal my heart too. But a couple of recent bottles, one of which was 15.7% abv and for me undrinkable, stopped me in my tracks, and I dropped out of the Swan club rather than take the zins. Rod wrote me afterward, explaining:

"While the alcohol is in balance in the wines, the
higher numbers distress me. Unfortunately, with the exception
watering back, spinning cone or reverse osmosis, there is really
nothing I can do about it. Better vineyard practices, crop reduction
and simply waiting until the fruit has ripe flavors and acidity
levels low enough to actually get them through malolactic
fermentations, has meant higher alcohol levels. We do pick carefully
around the raisins but also around the less than fully ripe fruit. I
have talked to a number of other local producers and the only
solution seems to be carrying larger crop loads (which means some
years we wouldn't be able to get the crop ripe) or going out the
Russian River Valley to Dry Creek or other warmer areas where the
shorter growing season actually means lower sugar levels at maturity.
We still get lucky occasionally but most years lately we have been
getting much higher alcohol levels than I would ideally like. Partly
because of this we have cut back on our zinfandel production."

That's as succinct an explanation as I've read about both the problem and the lack of solution.

Nice of Rod. I appreciate his communication and he even wrote about this in a recent newsletter. It is true that the more recent vintages have but creeping up the charts. We'll see how they age.

We did have the 2000 Frati from Jim's cellar the other night. 2nd time I drank it over the last month. I thought it was wonderful both times.

J

Jenise, thank's for posting Rod's reply.
The Rosenblum was probably Harris Kratka. That was the one that initially attracted me to Rosenblum and I took a bottle of it to Mo'Cool the year they did California Dreaming as a theme.
The one producer of super-high alcohol Zin I can tolerate is Robert Biale Vineyards. I like the Black Chicken Zinfandel and just this week was enjoying my first Old Crane Ranch Zin from Robert Biale. It is well over 15% alcohol and pretty ripe but doesn't seem as out-of-balance as some current Zins. Would be a tricky dinner match though. Maybe with lamb with blackberry sauce. I have liked Eric Ross Zinfandel (especially old vine zin from Occidental Vineyard which they no longer produce) but at their tasting room in Glen Ellen I tried a vertical of three from Old Feeney Ranch and each year the alcohol percentage went up about one per cent!

[Jenise]

In the tasting were the 2 zins, and 2 Napa cabs. One of the Cabs was Frogs Leap from the Rutherford floor, and the other was from Spring mountain, I can't remember the name. He was trying to point out the difference in a wine made from the benchland compared with one from mountain grown fruit. The Frogs Leap was a simple, straight forward, drink now cab that was a little sweet, and the mountain one was more complex and much more structured. I didn't get to try the Forgeron.

I think Wick has a good palate but is much more geared to New World wine than I am, so he would have to be more tolerant of alcohol.

I'm serving the Forgeron tonight--I'll let you know! And yes re Wick's palate. He always looks surprised when I object to the alcohol levels on some wines he reccomends. Those of us who bring that up must be very few and far between.