From the Cellar: Zinfandel
I’ve had Zinfandel on my mind as of late. From attending the ZAP Festival in January right up to my recent efforts to pair grilling recipes with Zins, they’ve been a major focus of my recent efforts. While I have been celebrating the grape, there are so many great expressions available today, there is one aspect of Zinfandel that keeps it from being considered as a truly noble grape: ageability.
The ability of a wine to improve with age is one of the benchmarks closely associated with their perceived prestige. There’s little reason for this, with one very powerful exception. Many wine lovers build cellars as much for drinking as for show, and while row upon row of old zinfandel might be visually impressive, the truth is that the wines themselves generally peak relatively early, within their first decade, and fade rather quickly. The wines may still be fun to drink, many Zinfandels from the 1970s turn into something approximating Rioja for example, with their faded fruit, autumnal character, and evidence of American oak still intact, but they are now better than they were in their youth.
Examples from more recent vintages, with higher alcohols and lower acidities, reflective of the trends dominating production over the past two decades, have fared worse. Many of these wines have simply imploded once the fruit has faded, leaving mostly alcohol and added acidity to torture one’s palate. The evidence supports the general consensus that Zinfandel is best consumed in its youth, but that doesn’t mean that some hard-headed wine lovers out there might want to test that theory, intentionally or not.
Being one of these hard-headed types, I’ve cellared Zins for 30 years now. Not many, but enough to know that the wines that outperform after decades in the cellar are the rare exceptions. But still, I have a few cases tucked away in my cellar, and considering all the intellectual effort I’ve been devoting to Zin as of late, this seemed like a great time to do a little cellar cleansing, or rather test the general consensus.
All of the wines in this tasting were bought on release, and were in apparent excellent condition. The labels showed signs of their losing battle with the conditions in my cellar, but the fills on most of the wines were phenomenal, creating some unfounded confidence that we were to be in for a treat this evening. It can easily be argued that these were not the best examples to cellar, either due to the vintage or producer, but I would argue that this was a rather representative sampling of the types of wines produced in two distinct eras.
The first era was represented by the wines from 1981- 1985. Old school wines, less ripe, less ‘made’, though no doubt more rustic and probably more age worthy than their younger siblings. I chose this selection of wines because they would represent, to my mind at least, the very outer limits of how long one might expect Zinfandel to last. The second set, spanning the years 1990 through 1994, represented where I expected the outer edge of actual enjoyment would lay.
Not surprisingly, this is not my first time at the rodeo after all, this tasting pretty much reinforced those thoughts. The wines from the 1980s alternated between somewhat enjoyable and on death’s doorstep, while those from the 1990s showed more power and richness accompanied by ripe and in some cases varietal fruit. I enjoyed several of these wines, but truth be told I don’t think that any of them were better today than they would have been 10 years ago.
That’s the general take away here. With few, if notable, exceptions, Zinfandel is at its best somewhere between their release and about 12 years after the vintage. There’s lots of compelling evidence that building multi-decade verticals of these wines is pure folly, which in turn keeps them from attaining the recognition that many deserve. Yes, these are not wines to cellar over the long term, but they still can be fabulous five or ten years from their vintage date. In my recent experience I’ve found that the vast majority of wines improve for about two to four years, then remain at their peak plateau for an additional two to four years, before fading, often quickly, into mediocrity.
This was a fun tasting, bringing back memories for me. Memories of purchasing each of these bottles, particularly those from the 1980s when each and every wine I purchased underwent careful deliberation and student dollars were dear. And that is yet another reason to cellar wine, even when your cellared treasures don’t really deliver drinking pleasure, they can still be rewarding.
Wine List Page http://www.snooth.com/list/old-zinfandel-tasted-april-2013/8799/
1981 David Bruce Zinfandel Mendocino 13.8%
http://www.snooth.com/wine/david-bruce-zinfandel-mendocino-1981/
Old and dusty on the nose; not a lot of fruit left here. Spicy with a caramel base, some black pepper, and a hint of black fruit. Smooth with a hint of sweetness on entry and a nice touch of spicy raspberry fruit on the palate. High acid and smoothly textured though not much fruit left and dusty, mineral flavors on the modest finish. Drinkable and pleasant though shadow of what it must have once been. 78pts
1981 Preston Zinfandel Dry Creek Valley 13.9%
http://www.snooth.com/wine/preston-of-dry-creek-valley-zinfandel-estate-bottled-1981/
Vegetal on the nose with rich beetroot aromas that are a touch musty. This shows a little sweetness with mint and sassafras accents. Round on entry then turning lean on the palate with some faint cherry fruit, a bit of old wood, and a hint of green anise seed. There’s still some tannin here, with some coffee overtones on the palate that shows fading richness, but this is barely drinkable. 69pts
1982 Fetzer Zinfandel Ricetti Vineyard Mendocino 13.8%
http://www.snooth.com/wine/fetzer-zinfandel-california-ricetti-1982/
Smoky on the nose with a nice base of black fruit, spicy and a touch of truffle, peppery with a bit of oak still obvious. Smooth and polished in the mouth with a nice core of fading red fruit framed with wood spice and sweet licorice tones. A bit of vanilla and some noticeable astringent tannins still linger on the palate which is followed by a brief pop of lovely black cherry fruit on the moderately long finish. Still intact, and sweetly fruited, if not terribly varietal. 84pts
1983 Fetzer Zinfandel Ricetti Vineyard Mendocino 13.7%
http://www.snooth.com/wine/fetzer-zinfandel-california-ricetti-1983/
Not particularly aromatic at first though a little spicy and oaky. A bit of air lends this focus and brings out lots of smoke and briar pipe aromas. Smooth with richness still buffering the tannins and acids, which are significant. Lots of raspberry fruit and tobacco early on the palate is followed by a clean, fresh and bracing finish. This is holding together nicely, showing some peppery spice, a cast of red fruit, and a light oak spice, whiskey barrel tone on the fairly long acid driven finish. 87pts
1983 Haywood Zinfandel Estate Sonoma Valley 13.4%
http://www.snooth.com/wine/haywood-zinfandel-sonoma-valley-1983/
Smoky, nutty and still oaky on the nose with lots of wild herbs, a mineral base and spicy almost currant fruit. Almost soft on entry with nicely integrated acidity, this offers up simple, burnished wild raspberry fruit with a hint of leafy spice. At 30 years of age this is still a tough wine, very structured and rugged, and long lived with a little cough lozenge note on the rather long finish. This really needs some food. 86pts
1985 Haywood Zinfandel Estate Sonoma Valley “Table Wine”
http://www.snooth.com/wine/haywood-zinfandel-sonoma-valley-1985/
Rather complex if unusual and very spicy on the nose with subtle mint and orange peel accents over lots of earthy and frankly dirty aromatics. Orange, earth. This has a lovely texture on entry, rich and rugged showing off raspberry fruit framed with tobacco and lots of earthy nuance with spicy red fruit, lifted by volatility that plumps on the back end and drives through the moderately long acid driven finish that frays and falls apart turning too volatile. With air this implodes, turning into a volatile mess. 74pts for the first sip, 65pts thereafter.
1990 Mazzocco Zinfandel Sonoma County 14.6%
http://www.snooth.com/wine/mazzocco-zinfandel-dry-creek-valley-1990/
Completely shot on the nose, caramel, beef extract, sweet. Sweet, mouth-filling, acidified, disjointed, over-extracted, tannic, horrible. I enjoyed this wine on release. 50pts
1991 Schuetz Oles Zinfandel Korte Ranch St. Helena Napa 13.9%
http://www.snooth.com/wine/schuetz-oles-zinfandel-napa-valley-korte-ranch-1991/
Sweet, vanilla, smoke, tobacco, leather, a little cocoa complex and savory with notes of Worcestershire sauce, candied red fruit with lots of spice and orange rind on this spicy and opulent nose. Bright and juicy in the mouth, lots of fruit here with lovely bramble spice notes, soft, slightly creamy tannins, bright acids, nice cut, though this is short and a little hot. Powerful, ripe and quite savory, this gains length on the finish but it is surprisingly hot. 83pts
1992 Topolos Zinfandel Rossi Ranch Sonoma County 13%
http://www.snooth.com/wine/topolos-zinfandel-sonoma-valley-rossi-ranch-1992/
Precise on the nose with smoky, grilled meat aromas that are deep with a rustic, savory edge, featuring lovely herbal, sage elements and notes of American oak. This smells like zin. Bright acids on entry, a touch unripe with green edges early on the palate, but then there’s lovely raspberry fruit framed by creamy oak, a little vanilla and lots of briary and green herb notes. This still has some power to it and fine length with an earthy, spicy finish. A powerful yet elegant wine thats a touch rustic but has good fruit with an appealing herbal sweetness. 87pts
1993 Ridge Vineyards Pagani Ranch 14.9%
http://www.snooth.com/wine/ridge-zinfandel-sonoma-valley-pagani-ranch-1993-1/
A wow wine in this company. Intense and perfumed on the nose still showing hints of American oak with dill accents to the leathery, black-fruited nose that shows some light spice notes topped with lovely red cherry fruit and hints of grilled meat. Everything comes together gorgeously, adding in stewy plums and spice notes with air. Sweet on entry, then meaty with intense strawberry, spiced raspberry and American oak flavors. While it does show a touch of heat on the finish, this comes with lots of blackberry and almost black currant fruit. Sweetly fruited on entry, this shows excellent integration with compelling complexity and lovely spice on the finish. Finish is a touch short at first, though there is a fine echo to the fruit. 92pts
1994 Dry Creek Vineyard Old Vines Sonoma County missing ABV on torn label
http://www.snooth.com/wine/dry-creek-vineyard-old-vines-zinfandel-sonoma-county-1994/
Lots of vanilla still on the nose along with chunky plummy fruit in a gently spicy, earthy way that morphs into a noticeably rubbery aroma. Plenty of acid and a little burnt fruit quality. Short, acidic and a bit lean on the palate, which does show some cherry fruit but dries out on the finish. A bit short, a bit of rare beef on the nose, disjointed and not very pleasant. Drying, dying and chunky. 65pts
The ability of a wine to improve with age is one of the benchmarks closely associated with their perceived prestige. There’s little reason for this, with one very powerful exception. Many wine lovers build cellars as much for drinking as for show, and while row upon row of old zinfandel might be visually impressive, the truth is that the wines themselves generally peak relatively early, within their first decade, and fade rather quickly. The wines may still be fun to drink, many Zinfandels from the 1970s turn into something approximating Rioja for example, with their faded fruit, autumnal character, and evidence of American oak still intact, but they are now better than they were in their youth.
Examples from more recent vintages, with higher alcohols and lower acidities, reflective of the trends dominating production over the past two decades, have fared worse. Many of these wines have simply imploded once the fruit has faded, leaving mostly alcohol and added acidity to torture one’s palate. The evidence supports the general consensus that Zinfandel is best consumed in its youth, but that doesn’t mean that some hard-headed wine lovers out there might want to test that theory, intentionally or not.
Being one of these hard-headed types, I’ve cellared Zins for 30 years now. Not many, but enough to know that the wines that outperform after decades in the cellar are the rare exceptions. But still, I have a few cases tucked away in my cellar, and considering all the intellectual effort I’ve been devoting to Zin as of late, this seemed like a great time to do a little cellar cleansing, or rather test the general consensus.
All of the wines in this tasting were bought on release, and were in apparent excellent condition. The labels showed signs of their losing battle with the conditions in my cellar, but the fills on most of the wines were phenomenal, creating some unfounded confidence that we were to be in for a treat this evening. It can easily be argued that these were not the best examples to cellar, either due to the vintage or producer, but I would argue that this was a rather representative sampling of the types of wines produced in two distinct eras.
The first era was represented by the wines from 1981- 1985. Old school wines, less ripe, less ‘made’, though no doubt more rustic and probably more age worthy than their younger siblings. I chose this selection of wines because they would represent, to my mind at least, the very outer limits of how long one might expect Zinfandel to last. The second set, spanning the years 1990 through 1994, represented where I expected the outer edge of actual enjoyment would lay.
Not surprisingly, this is not my first time at the rodeo after all, this tasting pretty much reinforced those thoughts. The wines from the 1980s alternated between somewhat enjoyable and on death’s doorstep, while those from the 1990s showed more power and richness accompanied by ripe and in some cases varietal fruit. I enjoyed several of these wines, but truth be told I don’t think that any of them were better today than they would have been 10 years ago.
That’s the general take away here. With few, if notable, exceptions, Zinfandel is at its best somewhere between their release and about 12 years after the vintage. There’s lots of compelling evidence that building multi-decade verticals of these wines is pure folly, which in turn keeps them from attaining the recognition that many deserve. Yes, these are not wines to cellar over the long term, but they still can be fabulous five or ten years from their vintage date. In my recent experience I’ve found that the vast majority of wines improve for about two to four years, then remain at their peak plateau for an additional two to four years, before fading, often quickly, into mediocrity.
This was a fun tasting, bringing back memories for me. Memories of purchasing each of these bottles, particularly those from the 1980s when each and every wine I purchased underwent careful deliberation and student dollars were dear. And that is yet another reason to cellar wine, even when your cellared treasures don’t really deliver drinking pleasure, they can still be rewarding.
Wine List Page http://www.snooth.com/list/old-zinfandel-tasted-april-2013/8799/
1981 David Bruce Zinfandel Mendocino 13.8%
http://www.snooth.com/wine/david-bruce-zinfandel-mendocino-1981/
Old and dusty on the nose; not a lot of fruit left here. Spicy with a caramel base, some black pepper, and a hint of black fruit. Smooth with a hint of sweetness on entry and a nice touch of spicy raspberry fruit on the palate. High acid and smoothly textured though not much fruit left and dusty, mineral flavors on the modest finish. Drinkable and pleasant though shadow of what it must have once been. 78pts
1981 Preston Zinfandel Dry Creek Valley 13.9%
http://www.snooth.com/wine/preston-of-dry-creek-valley-zinfandel-estate-bottled-1981/
Vegetal on the nose with rich beetroot aromas that are a touch musty. This shows a little sweetness with mint and sassafras accents. Round on entry then turning lean on the palate with some faint cherry fruit, a bit of old wood, and a hint of green anise seed. There’s still some tannin here, with some coffee overtones on the palate that shows fading richness, but this is barely drinkable. 69pts
1982 Fetzer Zinfandel Ricetti Vineyard Mendocino 13.8%
http://www.snooth.com/wine/fetzer-zinfandel-california-ricetti-1982/
Smoky on the nose with a nice base of black fruit, spicy and a touch of truffle, peppery with a bit of oak still obvious. Smooth and polished in the mouth with a nice core of fading red fruit framed with wood spice and sweet licorice tones. A bit of vanilla and some noticeable astringent tannins still linger on the palate which is followed by a brief pop of lovely black cherry fruit on the moderately long finish. Still intact, and sweetly fruited, if not terribly varietal. 84pts
1983 Fetzer Zinfandel Ricetti Vineyard Mendocino 13.7%
http://www.snooth.com/wine/fetzer-zinfandel-california-ricetti-1983/
Not particularly aromatic at first though a little spicy and oaky. A bit of air lends this focus and brings out lots of smoke and briar pipe aromas. Smooth with richness still buffering the tannins and acids, which are significant. Lots of raspberry fruit and tobacco early on the palate is followed by a clean, fresh and bracing finish. This is holding together nicely, showing some peppery spice, a cast of red fruit, and a light oak spice, whiskey barrel tone on the fairly long acid driven finish. 87pts
1983 Haywood Zinfandel Estate Sonoma Valley 13.4%
http://www.snooth.com/wine/haywood-zinfandel-sonoma-valley-1983/
Smoky, nutty and still oaky on the nose with lots of wild herbs, a mineral base and spicy almost currant fruit. Almost soft on entry with nicely integrated acidity, this offers up simple, burnished wild raspberry fruit with a hint of leafy spice. At 30 years of age this is still a tough wine, very structured and rugged, and long lived with a little cough lozenge note on the rather long finish. This really needs some food. 86pts
1985 Haywood Zinfandel Estate Sonoma Valley “Table Wine”
http://www.snooth.com/wine/haywood-zinfandel-sonoma-valley-1985/
Rather complex if unusual and very spicy on the nose with subtle mint and orange peel accents over lots of earthy and frankly dirty aromatics. Orange, earth. This has a lovely texture on entry, rich and rugged showing off raspberry fruit framed with tobacco and lots of earthy nuance with spicy red fruit, lifted by volatility that plumps on the back end and drives through the moderately long acid driven finish that frays and falls apart turning too volatile. With air this implodes, turning into a volatile mess. 74pts for the first sip, 65pts thereafter.
1990 Mazzocco Zinfandel Sonoma County 14.6%
http://www.snooth.com/wine/mazzocco-zinfandel-dry-creek-valley-1990/
Completely shot on the nose, caramel, beef extract, sweet. Sweet, mouth-filling, acidified, disjointed, over-extracted, tannic, horrible. I enjoyed this wine on release. 50pts
1991 Schuetz Oles Zinfandel Korte Ranch St. Helena Napa 13.9%
http://www.snooth.com/wine/schuetz-oles-zinfandel-napa-valley-korte-ranch-1991/
Sweet, vanilla, smoke, tobacco, leather, a little cocoa complex and savory with notes of Worcestershire sauce, candied red fruit with lots of spice and orange rind on this spicy and opulent nose. Bright and juicy in the mouth, lots of fruit here with lovely bramble spice notes, soft, slightly creamy tannins, bright acids, nice cut, though this is short and a little hot. Powerful, ripe and quite savory, this gains length on the finish but it is surprisingly hot. 83pts
1992 Topolos Zinfandel Rossi Ranch Sonoma County 13%
http://www.snooth.com/wine/topolos-zinfandel-sonoma-valley-rossi-ranch-1992/
Precise on the nose with smoky, grilled meat aromas that are deep with a rustic, savory edge, featuring lovely herbal, sage elements and notes of American oak. This smells like zin. Bright acids on entry, a touch unripe with green edges early on the palate, but then there’s lovely raspberry fruit framed by creamy oak, a little vanilla and lots of briary and green herb notes. This still has some power to it and fine length with an earthy, spicy finish. A powerful yet elegant wine thats a touch rustic but has good fruit with an appealing herbal sweetness. 87pts
1993 Ridge Vineyards Pagani Ranch 14.9%
http://www.snooth.com/wine/ridge-zinfandel-sonoma-valley-pagani-ranch-1993-1/
A wow wine in this company. Intense and perfumed on the nose still showing hints of American oak with dill accents to the leathery, black-fruited nose that shows some light spice notes topped with lovely red cherry fruit and hints of grilled meat. Everything comes together gorgeously, adding in stewy plums and spice notes with air. Sweet on entry, then meaty with intense strawberry, spiced raspberry and American oak flavors. While it does show a touch of heat on the finish, this comes with lots of blackberry and almost black currant fruit. Sweetly fruited on entry, this shows excellent integration with compelling complexity and lovely spice on the finish. Finish is a touch short at first, though there is a fine echo to the fruit. 92pts
1994 Dry Creek Vineyard Old Vines Sonoma County missing ABV on torn label
http://www.snooth.com/wine/dry-creek-vineyard-old-vines-zinfandel-sonoma-county-1994/
Lots of vanilla still on the nose along with chunky plummy fruit in a gently spicy, earthy way that morphs into a noticeably rubbery aroma. Plenty of acid and a little burnt fruit quality. Short, acidic and a bit lean on the palate, which does show some cherry fruit but dries out on the finish. A bit short, a bit of rare beef on the nose, disjointed and not very pleasant. Drying, dying and chunky. 65pts