We tried this at Pig+Fig last night of Zins from the Archives:
1. SeaRidgeWnry Zin OccidentalVnyds Private Slctn (18.5%; Specially bttld for ....) SeaRidgeWnry/Occidental 1991: Med.dark color w/ some browning; strong Fr.oak/toasty/smokey/vanilla quite dusty/OV intense blackberry/boysenberry/Zin/very spicy slight volatile fairly complex nose; very intense licorice/ripe/boysenberry/blackberry quite dusty/OV very ripe bit volatile fairly alcoholic strong vanilla/Fr.oak very slightly dried-out flavor w/ ample astringent tannins; very long bit late hrvsty/very ripe slightly rustic finish that mocks flavor; still a classic Occidental mature Zin that is holding up quite well. $4.00 (K&L)
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More dickledurk from TheBloodyPulpit:
1. SeaRidge was a wnry founded by two marine biologists in 1980 up on Occidental Grade Rd. It specialized in SonomaCnty PinotNoir purchased from a neighbor, with PN eventually being planted on the property. The two had a falling out in 1988 and the property was purchased by partner Dan Whickam. He continued to run the wnry for another 15 yrs, and then it was abandoned. The property & the name was eventually purchased by Bronco, who continues to make cheap SeaRidge wines in Napa. The Pinots made by the original SeaRidge were really quite good, cold-climate Pinot.
In 1991, Dan produced a small amount of Zin to be privately labeled for his mailing list. From the nearby Robert vonWeidlich very old Zin vnyd. The special wine did not sell & he had a lot of leftover inventory, which he sold off to K&L at a cheap price, who sold it for about $4/btl. When I tried the wine, I was blown away by it. It was a dead ringer for the old Ridge Occidental LateHrvst Zin from that very same vnyd. My group wound up buying some 7-8 cases of that wine at that stupid/silly price.
This is probably the last btl of that large purchase that exists. I was not expecting this wine to have much left in it. I was wrong. It was in amazingly good shape. vonWeidlich is very cold for a Zin vnyd & the wines often had a screachingly high acidity. Which is why Draper eventually dropped their Occidental Zin. That high acidity is probably why this Zin survived so well. The was was a legend in our wine group, though Larry Archibald held me & this SeaRidge in great contempt for reasons I could never figure out. I last had this wine about 10 yrs ago & thought it was not evolving very well. But this btl was in terrific shape....everything you'd want in an old Occidental Zin.
Tom