I liked it before, but... Hook & Ladder Estate Zin '04

I bought a couple of bottles of this back in August '08 - Hook & Ladder is Cecil DeLoach's current venture.

I opened the first bottle in September '08 and noted, "Huge blackberry aroma. Massive fruit, dark and rich without prunes. Moderate tannin, just a bit of heat at the end. Notably different from the current DeLoach brand zins."
Wanting a casual Zin the other day, I opened the other bottle, and I was disappointed. "Not bad – a little fat, a little alcoholic. Age didn't improve this bottle."

The fruit disappeared without leaving much to talk about. Too bad. I liked the old DeLoach zins because of their straightforward fruit and generally robust, friendly character. I liked the first bottle of this for the same reason. Six years from vintage isn't "old", or I hope it isn't, yet the second bottle didn't carry on the character I had hoped for. It didn't "fall apart", it was the same a day later, but it had lost the fruit-driven flavors and left nothing to replace them.
Oh well, there are too many wines in the world to obsess about a small disappointment.

Details - 14.7% alcohol; I paid $19.80 at the winery.

John

John,

Did you follow up with anyone at the winery about your experience? I've had some pretty interesting and illuminating conversations when I've followed up with the producer (especially a smaller place I've visited) after an experience such as yours.

I think in this case that it was my initial assessment of the wine that was at fault, rather than a bad bottle of one kind or the other. It certainly wasn't corked, though I'm not particularly sensitive to corkyness. I'll have to go back and hazard another few bucks before I can really justify to myself that I should complain.

Wines are weird critters, and all modern science doesn't seem to eliminate bottle variation, and though I'll note a big difference from what I expected, I don't think a single bottle is enough to assess blame.

John