Tried these two last night:
1. Franus Zin NapaVlly (13.4%) 1990: Med.color w/ some browning; rather earthy/dusty very light blackberry/Zin/licorice/pungent some cedary/pencilly/old Zin complex slightly tired nose; soft slight cedary/pencilly/old Zin slight blackberry/Zin somewhat tired/dried out flavor w/ light/drying tannins; med. soft some tired/dried out light blackberry/Zin cedary/pencilly/old Zin finish w/ light/drying/astringent tannins; still offers up some intellectual pleasure but pretty much on its last legs.
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2. Franus Zin HendryVnyd/NapaVlly (13.0%) 1990: Dark color w/ some browning; some blackberry/boysenberry/Zin/spicy bit dusty/OV light vanilla/oak/smokey some cedary/pencilly/old Zin complex nose; soft/smooth some blackberry/Zin/spicy/boysenberry light vanilla/oak/cedary/pencilly bit dusty/OV flavor w/ light/gentle tannins; med.long some blackberry/Zin/boysenberry/rather spicy some vanilla/cedary/pencilly/oak finish w/ light/smooth tannins; a gentle little old lady of a Zin that is fading into the twilight and still is a pleasure to drink.
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. This would be PeterFranus. Followed him from the very start, I did. He started in 1981 as asst winemaker for MikeBernstein at MtVeederVnyds, when I first heard of him, after a short stint at WilliamHill. He started his own label in 1987. When Franciscan bought out MtVeeder in 1989, Peter continued to work w/ MtVeeder and continued his own label as well, finally leaving in 1992 to focus on the Franus label.
Peter is best known for his Zins from the old (late) ChesterBrandlinRanch, planted in the 1920's. His first BrandlinZin was the '91. It was outstanding. When Cuvaison purchased the BrandlinRanch (Chester kept a small plot of Zin around his home), they pulled most of the old-vine stuff to plant Cabernet/Merlot (sigh....), though kept a small block of Zin/Mourvedre/Charbono that Peter continues to make Zin from to this day. I've not had any of the PF wines for yrs...so don't know how they are these days.
I opened up these two to compare after the Rafanelli '90 was so bretty & barnyardy that I couldn't choke it down. The Hendry had more than a quarter of the btl ullaged away. It, according to the "authorities", should have turned to vinegar. It had not...and showed no volatility/EA or signs of oxidation. So much for "authorities".
Tom