Day Zinfandel 2015 Sonoma County Zinfandel. 15.0% abv, aged in 90% neutral wood. $27.
This is the first release of this county-level bottling from Ehren Jordan's new project, Day Zinfandel (not to be confused with Day Wines in Oregon); it's described as being styled for early consumption. Intense purple in the glass, a lot of ripe blackberry liqueur up front, accented by earth. Full in the mouth, but carried along pretty well on a light raft of acid and tannin that keeps it from seeming heavy or boozy. Starts to shut down a bit after the first hour. Forced to choose one style of Zin, I'd go for one with even more acid, more rusticity, and more bramble than I find here (as a long-time forager in the Northern California hillsides, I figure blackberries come with thorns), but this is good too, especially given the light touch with the barrels, and the deft balance; and I think this will actually repay five to seven years' aging, so I'll leave my other bottle alone. I also got some of Day's single-vineyard Zin from Grist Vyd in DCV which I'll try at some point soon, too.