Monster Zin Rally
by Bastardo

As with the Bordeaux, we tasted the '95 Zins side by side, unblind. Upon whiffing the Deloach, The Director blurted "Dirt!" while Zinchick chimed "…major dust…." The dust would settle with air in this dark garnet monster, though. It's a huge wine with lots of lively acidity and a complexity of flavors and aromas that include black raspberries/blackcurrant/minty chocolate/vanilla, and peppery spicy prune/plum. A bit hot at first (16.5%), this tones down to let the fruit come through as it breaths. At one point, my notes read "Zinfan is having an orgasm!" This was his favorite wine of the evening, and indeed, we all were impressed, if not stunned, by the stuff. Amazing concentration, but almost too much oak for this taster.

The Rosenblum Maggie's Reserve is only a little less enormous then the OFS, with just (?!) 14.9% alcohol and plenty of tannins. The big briar-bramble flavors and aromas opened in the glass to include notes of black currant jam/red currant/raspberry/ blueberries/prune, and "an underfinish of spearminty chocolate," according to Canadian Zinfan. He also commented that it seemed "old vine-ish." Spicier than the Deloach, with less oak, this is initially hot, with a "twiggy" finish, but it opens into one seriously fine Zinfandel. Little to choose between this and the previous selection. Oh yeah, it's dark garnet.

The Rabbit Ridge GWR is a paltry 13.8 % alcohol, and seemed like claret in comparison to the first two. On one hand, this reconfirmed my conviction that this producer is all "oak and mirrors," in that they exhibit so much woody vanilla, the varietal characteristics are all but obscured. In the other mitt, this is a very fine wine that surpasses any others from RR that we've tasted collectively, and we've tasted more than a few. Lots of black and red currants here, with a vanilla/blueberry/white chocolate overlay. One taster commented that it got smoky as it opened, with tobacco and coffee notes. This wine may be the highest expression of the Rabbit Ridge "house style," but we found it to be somewhat one dimensional, due to all that homogenous oak, and certainly not worth the $36.

At this point, Canadian Zinfan disappeared into his cellar, to return shortly thereafter with the '94 Green and Red Chiles Mill. While notes may not have been as precise as earlier, they were still perfectly legible, and read as follows: "Big jammy fruit; AMAZING!" (Mr. Flippy) "Tastes like the Pezzi King to me." (Zinchick; Mr. Flippy agrees.) "I pulled a 94 Chiles Mill and it seemed to be the fav of the entire group. I can tell you it was massive, fleshy, full of blackberries and loads and loads of pepper." (C.Z.) "Dark garnet (like the last one), with a dark raspberry nose; a pretty big explosive zinberry; needs time; lots of tannin and acidity." (this taster).

This may have been the best of the Zins, but it was getting hard to determine by now. So what did we do? We opened a half bottle of 1994 Warre's Vintage Port, and while no notes were taken, it was certainly the most intense, flavorful port that I've ever had the pleasure of sipping. Huge rich black cherry/chocolate/walnut flavors and aromas that were awesome, even at this tender age.

It should be noted that this taster was a minority of one in preferring the Bordeauxs to the Zinfandels. Blasphemy, you say? Maybe so, but the first two Zins were so big that they seemed bigger than life (to me), while the last needs further cellaring. And the Rabbit Ridge was, well, Rabbit Ridge! The Bordeauxs were just beautiful.

Nevertheless, it was yet another occasion of wonderful stuff with wonderful friends!

THE ZINS

1995 Deloach Russian River Zinfandel "OFS" $24.30

1995 Rosenblum Sonoma Zinfandel Samsel Vineyard Maggie's Reserve $27

1995 Rabbit Ridge Zinfandel Winemaker's Grand Reserve $36

1994 Green and Red Napa Zinfandel Chiles Mill