At our Aglianico tasting last night, Steve brought this relic from his cellar:
1. Ridge Zin Geyserville Calif LatePicked TrentadueRanch (95% Zin/5% PetiteSirah; bttld Jan 1980; SaH: 26.5%; RS: .064%; 14.9%) 1978: Dark color w/ some browning; very ripe boysenberry/blackberry/overripe Zin some spicy rather vanilla/Am.oak/pencilly slight oxidative complex lovely nose; lightly tart quite pencilly/oak/vanilla some very ripe blacky/boysenberry/Zin/very spicy slightly dried out bit cedary/oldRed very ripe/overripe flavor w/ light drying tannins; very long/lingering quite Am.oak/vanilla some very spicy/Zin/very ripe blackberry/boysenberry bit cedary/oldRed bit tired/dried out complex finish w/ light bit astringent tannins; a lovely complex oldZin nose but a bit tired/drying on the palate; quite an interesting oldZin w/ some fruit remaining and in remarkable shape for a '78.
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. This btl was ullaged just to the bottom edge of the shoulder, but not a lot of crud underneath the capsule to indicate a lot of leakage. The cork was soft & mushy and crumbled some on removal but came out intact w/ the Coravin. Despite the ullage, there was no obvious oxidation in the wine.
I assume this was the only Geyserville bttld in '78. When they made more than one, the LatePicked or LateHarvest would be in large letters on the label. This btl had the LatePicked in small letters on the bottom of the label. The label text had the initials DRB to indicate DaveBennion was the author.
Clearly, the Zin was showing its age but in amazingly good condition for a 43 yr old Zin and still offers up some pleasure.
Tom