We tasted last week (5/4/2011) some Zins From The Archives:
1. Calif ShenandoahVnyds Zin DalPortoVnyds/AmadorCnty (12.4%; SaH: 22.3 Brix; TA: 6.0gm/l;
pH: 3.1; 990 cs) 1982: Med.light color w/ some bricking; rather cedary/pencilly/old Zin slight
wet wool/pungent nose; tart rather cedary/pencilly very metallic/tangy no fruit rather tired/
old Zin dried out flavor; med.long tangy/metallic tired/dried out finish; pretty much a dead wine
and offers up no pleasure.
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2. Calif ShenandoahVnyds CabernetSauvignon AmadorCnty (13.4%) 1981: Med.color w/ little bricking; rather
herbal/Cab some pungent/cedary/charred/oak slight blackcurranty/Cab some complex nose; some tannic/
astringent/dried out fairly smooth light herbal/Cab rather charred/cedary/oak flavor; long fairly smooth
cedary/charred/oak bit herbal/Cab complex finish; speaks of old Cab and little of Amador; still alive and
a pleasure, but getting pretty shakey.
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3. Ravenswood Zin SonomaCnty Old Vine (14.3%; 54% SonomaVlly/30% DryCreekVlly/16% AlexVlly;
TA: 0.58 gm/100ml) 1991: Med.dark w/ some browning; light cedary/pencilly/oak light blackberry/Zin some
complex bit spicy/peppery/dusty/old vine very attractive nose; soft/smooth slight tannic/dried out light
cedary/pencilly/old Zin some blackberry/Zin/spicy/peppery flavor; long rather smooth light pencilly/cedary
some blackberry/peppery finish; still very much alive and offers up pleasure but starting to get a bit shakey.
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4. Ravenswood Zin BelloniVnyd/SonomaCnty (14.8%; 710 cs; TA: 0.82 gm/100ml) 1991: Dark color w/ little bricking;
fairly strong blackberry/raspberry/Zin very spicy slight wet wool bit cedary/pencilly fairly complex nose; soft
quite spicy/blackberry/Zin/peppery light cedary/pencilly complex flavor; slight tangy rather spicy/blackberry/Zin/
peppery smooth complex finish; still in lovely shape and plenty of fruit therein; a graceful/gentle old lady.
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5. Ravenswood Zin SonomaCnty (13.4%) 1986: Med.color w/ slight bricking; some cedary/pencilly/old Zin/wet wool slight
blackberry/Zin bit pepperminty complex nose; soft some dried out/tired/tannic light cedary/pencilly/old Zin bit
wet wool little fruit flavor; med. cedary/pencilly/old Zin somewhat tired/dried out/old Zin/tannic slight pungent/
wet wool finish; somewhat interesting but rather tired & dried out old Zin.
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6. Ravenswood Zin SonomaCnty (13.4%) 1986: Same color; much the same nose but a bit more pepperminty & complex nose;
bit more pepperminty and not quite as tired/dried out on the palate; seems a bit more alive but still not much
pleasure here.
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7. LimerickLane Zin CollinsVnyd/RRV (13.5%) 1993: Med.light w/ considerable bricking; rather tired/old Zin/wet wool/
wet army blanket no fruit slight cedary nose; rather tired/dried out/astringent/tannic no fruit flavor; pretty
much dead & gone.
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8. JosephSwanVnyds Sonoma Zin (??%) 1979: Light color w/ some bricking; some TCA/musty some bretty/wet horse light
cedary/pencilly complex nose; soft very smooth/delicate slight TCA bit old Burgundy/Pinotish slight spicy little
fruit bit cedary/pencilly complex flavor; med.long pencilly/old Burgundy/Pinotish smooth/gentle finish; definitely
a bit of TCA on the nose but a pleasant old Pinot character underneath.
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9. LyttonSpringsWnry Zin SonomaCnty (14.4%) 1985: Med.color w/ slight bricking; very light/almost no slight cedary/
pencilly weak spicy/licorice/pungent/peppery no fruit nose; tart/tangy light cedary/pencilly light spicy/licorice/
peppery delicate/gentle bit complex flavor; med.short light cedary/pencilly/old Zin light spicy/peppery smooth
finish w/ little fruit; still in good shape but almost devoid of flavor and aromatics; a delicate/elegant/frail
old lady of a Zin $8.85
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10. Ridge Calif Geyserville/SonomaCnty (50% Zin/30% Carignane/20% PS; 14.3%; Bttld: Feb'93;
Drk: 1/93-?: PD) 1991: Med.dark color w/ little bricking; lovely DraperPerfume/toasted coconutty/cedary/vanilla/
oaked some spicy/black cherry/raspberry/licorice complex nose; soft/smooth some DP/toasted coconut/vanilla/oak
some spicy/raspberry/Zin light licorice flavor; med.long toasted coconut/vanilla/oak light raspberry/black cherry/
Zin/licorice smooth finish; a smooth/balanced/gentle Zin; more interesting/complex than the Pagani but will
probably die sooner.
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11. Ridge Calif Zin PasoRobles/SLOCnty (14.9%; Bttld: March'93; Drk: 3/93-3/98-3/99: PD) 1991: Med.color w/ slight
browning; light blackberry/jammy slight ruhbarb light vanilla/toasty/oak some complex nose; soft/smooth jammy/
Paso/Zin light vanilla/oak lovely complex flavor; long ripe/blackberry/jammy/PR Zin some vanilla/oak smooth
complex finish; still very much alive and speaks of PR Zin; lovely but a bit lacking in energy. $12.00
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12. Ridge Calif Zin Pagani/SonomaVlly (100% Zin; 15.4%; 23 brls; Bttld: May'93; Drk: 4/93-?: PD) 1991: Med.color
w/ little bricking; rather pungent/gunpowder/ozone/WWII beacon/smokey/tarry/pungent some pencilly/oak some
blackberry/Zin/boysenberry/big fruit quite complex nose; soft/lush big fruit/blackberry/Zin/boysenberry light
pencilly/toasty/oak/vanilla some licorice/tarry/pungent quite complex smooth flavor; very long pungent/licorice/
tarry some toasty/charred/oak very boysenberry/blackberry/Zin smooth finish; probably near or beyond its peak;
still very much alive and full of fruit.
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14. TheFirestoneVnyd Merlot SantaYnezVlly/Calif (TheAmbassador'sVnyd; 13.0%) TonyAustin/AndreTchelistcheff
1979: Med.color w/ some browning; rather pungent/charred/smokey/oak/toasty some Bdx/earthy/gout de terroir/
mushroomy rather herbal complex nose; fairly tart quite herbal/Cab slight bretty/unclean very toasty/burnt/
charred/oak light tannic complex flavor; med.long quite herbal/Cab some Bdx-like/earthy gout de terroir very
charred/burnt/oak finish; quite herbal and some Bdx-like earthy character; not exactly a pleasurable wine
but still very much alive and rather interesting. $7.95
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The usual BloodyPulpit:
1. Wine #6 is the same wine as #5 and was served as a mystery wine; just to see how close they were. They were
pretty much the same wine though #6 seemed to be slightly more alive. No dramatic differences. About a half
inch less fill on #6. Most tasters found them to be pretty similiar but nobody suggested it was the same wine.
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2. Firestone: This was one of the very first Firestone Merlots. Made by TonyAustin w/ AndreTchelistcheff as the
consultant. Back then, their Cab-based wines were extremely herbal; though not as bad as the Monterey veggie
Cabs, and not very well liked. I was surprised how well this wine has stood the test of time. Still pretty
herbal...but still very much alive. Wines like this was what prompted them to give up on Cabernet in SantaBarbara
Cnty, as well as up at Tepesquet, and most were ripped out. Fortunately, the finally figured out where to
grow Cab in SBC and now they make some world-class Cabs there.
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3. LyttonSprings: This was one of the old LyttonSpringsWnry Zins, then owned by DickSherwin. During the '80's, he was
taking all his grapes and Ridge was no longer making LS Zin. This wine was, of course, a field blend of Zin/
Grenache/PetiteSirah. Ridge bought the property in 1991 and continued the LyttonSpringsWnry label for a few
yrs, making it in a bit unclean/bretty style w/ a bit of VA.
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4. Old Zins like these are fun to taste. They seldom offer the sensual pleasure that young Zin presents, but they
certainly offer up an intellectual pleasure. Of these, the Pagani was my clear favorite.
Tom