Gang of Pour - Spinning in Zinfinity Again

Blue Jeans to Black Tie Auction

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Vintage 2001

ZAP Saturday Tasting
George Heritier's
Tasting Notes

Henry Harris'
Tasting Notes

The Evening With The Winemakers - Blue Jeans to Black Tie Auction was held at the Regency Center, Sutter Room in San Francisco. The event features a tasting reception and silent auction followed by a Zinfandel dinner and live auction, the latter coordinated by the Gang’s own Allan Bree, a longtime ZAP volunteer, and conducted by the irrepressible Dave Reynolds (above). The auctions benefited the Zinfandel Heritage Projects, including the Heritage Vineyard at the University of California, Davis' Oakville (Napa Valley) Research Station.

I had a chance to taste several of the wines being poured by ZAP volunteers during the reception, and here are my impressions of those.

1999 Robert Biale Napa Zinfandel Aldo’s Vineyard: Still a nice big, spicy, rich, somewhat tannic wine. Plenty of brawny body and lots of fairly dark raspberry, blackberry, black raspberry fruit; everything I like in a Zinfandel.

1999 Carlisle Dry Creek Zinfandel: Like the Biale Aldo’s, still showing some tannins, with a huge explosion of dark berry fruit prettied up with a sweet kiss of oak, plenty of spice and pepper, and a nice long finish. Can go for a couple more years, no sweat; drinking nicely now, but in a few more years, it’ll probably be even better.

2000 Trinitas Russian River Valley Zinfandel: A big tannic mouthful of typically spicy dark berry fruit, good acidity, not quite as rich and round as the two ‘99s noted above, but then it’s a 2000. Might need a few years to let the tannins tone down a bit. A solid effort from the new venture of Erin and Matt Cline (shown here, with Robert Biale Vineyards' Dave Pramuk at their left).

2000 Murphy-Goode Sonoma Zinfandel Liar’s Dice: A good spicy, fruity raspberry Zinfandel, with little to distinguish itself; one that tends to show the weaknesses of the vintage. The fruit is perhaps not as big, ripe and round as this taster might prefer, not that I’m looking for the overripe style, but it’s a little hollow on the midpalate. Suffers in comparison to the previous three tasted.

2000 D-Cubed Napa Zinfandel Howell Mountain: A smooth, rich, round nice drinking Zinfandel; nice berry flavors, not too tannic, good acidity and a real pleasure to drink.

2000 Ravenswood Sonoma Valley Zinfandel Monte Rosso: This seems hollow in the middle, made in a claret style, perhaps? It’s just missing a little something in the middle, that rich round fruit that I like in my Zinfandel. It almost seems flat in a way.

2001 Rosenblum Mendocino Zinfandel Eagle Point Ridge: Has a slightly perfume-y thing going on in it that I don’t necessarily find appealing, being that it’s more of a chemical than a floral quality. There’s a lot of big spicy fruit here, with good tannic structure and acidity but that perfume-y thing is just a little off-putting.

2000 Chase Napa Hayne Vineyard Zinfandel: Medium full to full bodied, with nice rich raspberry and black raspberry flavors; not too tannic, with nice spice and nice acidity. Drinking well now.

1999 Saxon Brown Sonoma Valley Zinfandel Casa Santinamaria Vineyards: A little tarry on the nose, with kind of a Rhone-ish thing going on, with nice black raspberry and blackberry fruit underneath; it’s tarry on the palate too, but I’d agree with Owner/Winemaker Jeff Gaffner that this is a good thing, as it gives the wine a distinctive character that I find appealing. Drinking well now.

2000 Renwood Amador Zinfandel Grandmére: Drinking well right now, with nice, soft, rich raspberry, blackberry fruit that leans more toward the red spectrum; not too tannic, decent acidity. A nice glass of wine.

1998 Joseph Swan Russian River Valley Zinfandel Zeigler Vineyard: Big dark berry flavors and aromas with a little spice, a little pepper and some minty menthol overtones; still some tannins and good acidity, so it’ll probably get better with a few more years. A very good Zin, especially for a ’98.

1999 Cedarville Vineyard Sierra Foothills Zinfandel: Bit of a dusty nose with a big hit of spicy dark berry fruit underneath. Flavors echo with some tannins, good acidity and a nice follow through. A good glass of Zinfandel; yum!

There were two of the 2000 Ridges being poured, and because we’ve sampled those just recently, I concentrated on these others first. When I finally decided to go and get another whiff of “all that Draper perfume,” guess which producer’s wares had all run dry?

David Reed and Ondine Chattan Ah, the price one pays for trying to maintain some objectivity…

The auctions were successful in raising $65,000, and the attendees and their winery hosts (such as Geyser Peak winemaking team member Ondine Chattan and friend David Reed, right) were all quite festive. I was once again impressed by the dedication of the ZAP staff and the small army of volunteers, who always go the extra mile to accommodate the participants and make sure that things run smoothly.

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