Say whot....a TN by TomHill on a White Zinfandel?? Say it ain't so. Tried this hlf btl w/ Stacey ystrday over some cheese:
1. Santino Zin AmadorCnty DryBerrySelect WhiteHarvest TBA (7.1%; Totally Botrytis Affected; Hrvstd: 10/15/85 @ 50.0 Brix; Acid: 1.8 gm/100ml; pH: 3.4) Scott Harvey/Plymouth 1985: Very dark/near black/PX color; very intense botrytis/apricotty/peachy rather raisened/pruney some earthy slight volatile/EA very TBA complex nose; quite sweet rather raisene/pruney intense botrytis/apricotty quite complex flavor w/ a screechy acidiy that stings the mouth; very long/lingering very sweet finish that mimics flavor; not too unike an old Mosel TBS; some like an old PX except not the alcohol and w/ this strident/screechy acidity; dominated by the raisened/pruney/botrytis character; bears little resemblance to a good SutterHome WhiteZin; a pretty weird dessert wine.
_________________________________
More blitterscrap from TheBloodyPulpit:
1. This is a good example of acidity. The 1.8 gm/100ml is way/way beyond the norm for any wine. Yet there is not a perfect inverse correlation w/ the pH. 3.4 is not much beyond the norm for a wine. This wine is one of the highest SaH that Calif has ever seen.
The towering acidity was a bit painful on the palate, ameliorated only slightly w/ the high RS. It gave the wine sort of a sweet/sour character.
By '85, the BATF/TTB had banned the use of BA/TBA on the wine label because of German objections. So the winemakers simply asserted the TBA stood for Totally Botrytis Affected.
All in all.....not at all an unpleasant wine...just sorta weird. Thanks you Scott for expanding our horizons on what wine can be.
Tom