Tried this this afternoon:
1. Terra d'Oro Zin DeaverVnyd/AmadorCnty (130 yr old vines; 14.5%; www.TerraDOroWinery.com) Plymouth 2014: Med.color; some raspberry/blackberry/Zin slight earthy/briary rather simple/fruity nose; quite tart/lean/bit eviscerated lightly spicy/raspberry/blackberry/Zin bit earthy rather bland/simple flavir w/ light/bitey tannins; med.short light raspberry/blackberry/Zin slightly spicy tart/lean/thin bit earthy finish w/ light/lean tannins; no dusty/OV character and almost no Amador/briary character; an unthrilling/simple Zin; overpriced at $26.00 (SFW&S)
_____________________
A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Whatta waste of (presumably) great grapes. I had high hopes for this wine...but they were dashed on the shoals of SutterHome WhiteZin.
DeaverVnyd is, of course, the vnyd that brought AmadorCnty/ShenandoahVlly onto the radar of wine lovers back in '68, with the SutterHome DeaverRanch Zin '68. After 4 vintages of CharlieMeyers Ho-Made Zin came to the attention of DarrellCorti. The SH DeaverZin was outstanding Zin thru about the '75 vintage, then went into a gradual decline as Trinchero's focus turned to the much more profitable production of WhiteZin. This SH/Td'O Deaver Zin brings the famed DeaverZin to its absolute rock bottom. It cannot possibly sink any lower unles they make it into WhiteZin.
There exists a DeaverVnyd winery. I tasted it some 15 yrs ago and found it marred by totally inept winemaking...very unclean & volatile. From their WebSite, it appears they no longer make a DeaverVnyd Zin.
I wrote an article for VintageMagazine back in the late '70's on "Zinfandels of the Deaver Vnyd". This was back when KenDeaver Sr. was still alive and farming the vnyd. I did a visit w/ KenSr, a tall/rangy/raw-boned farmer type of guy. He was obviously proud of his vnyd. We wandered down into the swale below his home to take a look at his pigs. Back in the '50-'60's, before DeaverVnyd was discovered, most of his grape sales were to home winemakers and the remainder went to feed his pigs. Supposedly, the Deaver (and the JohnDowning/GrandPere vnyd) pork was highly regarded in the region. I suspect part of the reason the JohnLasich sausages were so good w/ because of Deaver pork. KenSr tried to gift me a package of his pork chops, but I had no way to keep in cold.
Anyway, especially given my history w/ Deaver, this is a wine to avoid.
Tom