WTN: EdmundsStJohn Zin PeayVnyd '01...(short/boring)

Tried this last night w/ fresh-corn risotto:
1. EdmundsStJohn Zin PeayVnyd/SonomaCoast (15.2%) Intuition&BlindLuck 2001: Totally crumbly cork, strained; med.dark color w/ little bricking; rather pencilly/cedary/old Zin some spicu/blackberry/peppery/licorice/DrPepper slight raspberry cola complex nose; tart bit lean/hard/dried out rather cedary/pencilly/old Zin light DrPepper/spicy/blackberry/Zin some tannic/hard flavor; long slight blackberry/spicy/Zin some cedary/pencilly/old Zin light earthy/DrPepper/peppery complex finish w/ some hard/dried-out tannins; still some very nice things therein but they're not gonna last much longer.
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A wee BP:
1. Think this was the last crop of Zin at PeayVnyd afore the Zin vines were pulled.
Tom

Tried this last night w/ fresh-corn risotto:
1. EdmundsStJohn Zin PeayVnyd/SonomaCoast (15.2%) Intuition&BlindLuck 2001: Totally crumbly cork, strained; med.dark color w/ little bricking; rather pencilly/cedary/old Zin some spicu/blackberry/peppery/licorice/DrPepper slight raspberry cola complex nose; tart bit lean/hard/dried out rather cedary/pencilly/old Zin light DrPepper/spicy/blackberry/Zin some tannic/hard flavor; long slight blackberry/spicy/Zin some cedary/pencilly/old Zin light earthy/DrPepper/peppery complex finish w/ some hard/dried-out tannins; still some very nice things therein but they're not gonna last much longer.
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A wee BP:
1. Think this was the last crop of Zin at PeayVnyd afore the Zin vines were pulled.
Tom

Why did they pull the zin?

It was the FIRST crop from those vines, and the next-to-last. Nick had previously worked at Roudon-Smith, in the Santa Cruz Mountains, and his idea was that Zin on the Sonoma Coast might not raisin much, if at all (and he told me that when I asked him why he'd planted it there, and I said, "wow, that's my idea of good Zinfandel vineyards, too!" so we agreed to work together, but two problems: 1) it was a Fall with some major heat spikes, and 2) first year you don't hang much fruit on the vines, in order to let the roots get most of the vine's energy. Well, we measured the sugar at somewhere in the 24s, and the actual alcohol is in the 16s, and it would've been higher but I racked in roughly 90 gallons of Peay Syrah that we didn't have barrels for, to drop the alcohol and the brix. If I remember correctly, there was a prominent wine critic who loved the stuff.

Ah, but , yes; why did it get ripped out? Nick didn't really like the ground where he planted it; it was more like bottom-land, chosen because it might be cooler, but it's also more susceptible to rot, and they decided, finally, that they didn't really care as much about Zin as they did about the other varieties they had, and that the market probably wouldn't, either. And I think they were right. It was a noble idea, and I, and, I believe, Nick really wanted it to work. Point taken!

Thanks Tom and Steve. Great info. Stuff I really enjoy having insight too.

idea was that Zin on the Sonoma Coast might not raisin much, if at all (and he told me that when I asked him why he'd planted it there, and I said, "wow, that's my idea of good Zinfandel vineyards, too!"

Yes! I quit buying Zins in the late 90s ...couldn't take what was going on. But I do love zin. For me Fred Scherrer has helped me start the search again. Do you guys have any recommends as to producers who are still able to get some red fruit and ageability into their Zins.

Jason

Sky.

Maybe Dashe?

Sky is a new name to me. Will look to try. I think I have had Dashe but it has been a long time. I'll do a refresh.

Sky is old-school, and, at its best, really, really good. I like Dashe, too; I think Mike would make tremendous wine if he had some mountain grapes.

The Lagier-Meredith joint project Chester's Anvil Zinfandels have been pretty honest expressions of Zin to my taste. It's doesn't hurt that it's Brandlin Vineyard fruit, either.

Mark Lipton

Chester died last year, so I don't know if they have any more access to that fruit. It was a tiny block Chester planted for himself in the late '90's, separate from the Brandlin property that produced all the "Brandlin Vineyard" bottlings. Those grapes (the old vine stuff) go to Peter Franus.
Not sure where the Tribidrag is from; did Steve and Carole plant some?

I have some of the 2005 Sky Zin. We opened one last year. It was a huge Zinfandel but still a bit harsh. Going to try another in 2014.

Chester died last year, so I don't know if they have any more access to that fruit. It was a tiny block Chester planted for himself in the late '90's, separate from the Brandlin property that produced all the "Brandlin Vineyard" bottlings. Those grapes (the old vine stuff) go to Peter Franus.
Not sure where the Tribidrag is from; did Steve and Carole plant some?

The first Chester'sAnvil Zin was from Chester's small block around his home as payback to Steve for disking his
vnyd when his tractor was down. The subsequent ones have been from MeadRanch/AtlasPeak, though they may have a bit
of Brandlin Zin in the works. Chester did die, there is some squabbling over the property, and they probably will never get
that fruit again.
The Tribidrag (Zinfandel's ancient/original name in Croatia) comes from their own estate, same as the Syrah/Mondeuse.
The current one is the first from those grapes.
Would strongly endorse Steve's rec on Sky as an old-timey Zin. Another is the Ottomino, especially from vonWeidlich vnyd.
MikeDashe makes two Zin (at least, in addition to a LateHrvst). The regular is a bit on the ripe side. He also makes
a LesEnfantTerribles, natural winemaking/low SO2 additions, YadaYadaYada. All of his LET don't move me at all....I've given up
on them. They're sorta old-timey in the Sebastiani/Pedroncelli/Parducci mold..a bit on the wussy side.
The Bucklin OldHillRanch is also rather old-timey...as are most of the Bedrocks.
Tom

What about Doug Nalle's Zins? I had several back in the day that I liked quite a bit, but I haven't had any of his wines in ages. Still the same style?

Mark Lipton

What about Doug Nalle's Zins?

I recently had one of his Zins. I think it was called Nalle Dry Creek Valley, though I don't remember the vintage. It stood out as being smooth and relatively light bodied compared to the standard Zin. I liked the style though I have not tasted any of his other wines. It may have been a Zin based blend.

. Well, we measured the sugar at somewhere in the 24s, and the actual alcohol is in the 16s

Was that before soak up as that is one heckuva conversion? Or have I been mislead as to normal conversion factors being less than 0.6?

it's a reflection of the difficulty getting accurate Brix readings prior to de-stemmming and soaking overnight. It's also notoriously difficult to get consistent readings from different places in the same tank, early on.

What about Doug Nalle's Zins?

I recently had one of his Zins. I think it was called Nalle Dry Creek Valley, though I don't remember the vintage. It stood out as being smooth and relatively light bodied compared to the standard Zin. I liked the style though I have not tasted any of his other wines. It may have been a Zin based blend.

Doug's (and son Andy's) Zins are still just has good as ever. Maybe a bit less (French) oak than in olden days, but still pretty much
the same stylistic.
The classic Zinberry/DryCreekVlly Zin.
Tom

Thanks Steve. That is kind of what I thought.