Heard rumors that Turley has a 2011 White Zin in the works. Normally, WhiteZin is not anything that gets me excited; the genre has been so trashed by SutterHome and Beringer. Actually, some of the White Zins made by Ridge and DavidBruce in the late '60's were quite nice (despite what rumors you may have heard...SutterHome did not invent WhiteZin). Even those first few Sutter Home Oeil de Perdrix White Zin DeaverVnyd ('73 & '74) were rather nice wines...until they started loading it w/ RS.
Don't know if the '11 Turley White Zin will measure up to the legendary Smoot-Hawley White Zin, but I gotta give 'em credit for taking another shot at it.
From my TN of Jan 10, 2001; we bring you the original Smoot-Hawley:
___________________
12. Turley NapaVlly Smoot-HawleyVnyd Sparkling WhiteZin (17.2%) '98: Continuous stream in the
glass of huge bubbles the size of DollyParton's.... umhh... whatever; pale pink/salmon color;
very fragrant nose of strawberry soda pop and CheezWhiz; huge/ripe/elegant candied/strawberry
flavors that assault the palate like....umhh... whatever; very long lingering strawberry candy/
silicone finish that goes on and on; a classic example of great sparkling WhiteZin; reasonably
priced at $37.49
____________________________________
3. Smoot-Hawley WhiteZin: As usual; this tiny production from the famed 172 yr old Smoot-Hawley
Vnyd; located right on Zinfandel Lane in the very shadow of the famed SutterHome Winery and Tank
Farm, represents the rarest of the rare Turley wines. Production was down again this year to
only three bottles; one for Larry Turley, one for Ehren Jordan, and merely a half-bottle for
the famed LosAlamos market. Once again, Helen Turley was peeved for not being allocated a bottle
and threatened to flood the market w/ a SonomaCoast White Zin at $30/btl. The Man from Monkton
was, as usual, clueless about the existance of the rarest of rare wines. Bob Trinchero was so
apoplectic with fear that he would lose his WhiteZin market to TurleyWineCellars that he
released under the cover of darkness several sassy-winged sharpshooters into the Smoot-Hawley
Vnyd. The seven vines in Smoot-Hawley are not expected to survive this assault and this probably
marks the last vintage of the famed Smoot-Hawley WhiteZin and the end of an era for Turley
Wine Cellars.
Tom