1982 Chateau Leoville Barton, Saint Julien

Medium dark. Open nose with aromas of cherry, currants, chassis and oak. Big forward cherry and current fruit flavors, with hints of leather and tobacco towards the finish that developed as the wine aired, moderate acid, still soft fruity tannins, good structure and a long finish. My rating 90.

Parker rated this wine very highly when it was young, and it has developed into a very good, mature Bordeaux that does not show any signs of decline yet. In fact this wine seems surprising tight for a 20 year old Bordeaux.

2003 Las Rocas de San Alejandro Garnacha Spain Calatayud Vinas Viejas

Dark. Raspberry and pepper on the nose. Big raspberry, strawberry fruit flavors with spices and pepper, high acid, soft tannins and a long fruity finish. A very fruity young wine that will be nice drinking over the next few years. I paid about $10. My rating 85.

2001 Chateau Bastor-Lamontagne, Sauternes

Light golden yellow. Nose had lemon and orange aromas. Sweet orange and apricot fruit, moderate acid, and a long sweet, fruity finish. A medium weight young Sauterne. I paid about $20 for a half bottle. My rating 84.

2001 Beringer, Alluvium, Knights Valley

Dark. Cherry and raspberry aromas. Cherry, chassis, and earthy flavors, moderate acid, soft tannins and long fruity finish. This is a Bordeaux blend that is good for near term drinking, and of the next 5 years or more. I paid $18. My rating 87.

2002 Chateau Souverain, Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley

Dark. Very tight nose, with hints for cherry. Forward fruit of cherry and chassis, good acid, soft tannins, and a long fruity finish. This is surprisingly tight for a Chateau Souverain. It was very slow to open in the glass. It seems to need a few years to come around. I paid $16. My rating 85.

2004 McMainis Family Vineyards, Cabernet Sauvignon, California

Dark. Cherry and plum aromas. Black cherry and mineral fruit flavors, low acid, soft tannins, and a long fruity finish. This is a big, flabby young wine. It has intense fruit flavors, but lacks structure. I don’t like it even for current drinking, but my wife liked it. I paid $8, so it may be a good value for those who like this style of wine. I tried this because the retailer claimed Parker praised this wine and it was only $8. My rating 75.

Zinfandel as the California State Wine?

There is an effort in the California legislature to declare Zinfandel the California State Wine. This has apparently gotten some people up in arms who thing Cabnert Sauvignon is a better wine than Zinfandel. (here , free signup required).

I have been thinking about this and I guess I like the idea of Zinfandel as the California State Wine. What does it mean for a wine to be the state wine. The official California State Bird is the California Valley Quail. Why was it made the state bird? I don’t think I have ever seen one. It certainly is not the most widespread, most common bird in California. I don’t think it is the most beautiful bird we have in California either.

Cabernet Sauvignon is my favorite red wine, and California makes some of the best Cabernet Sauvignon’s in the world. When you think about Cabernet Sauvignon though, you think about Bordeaux as well as California. Bordeaux was producing great Cabernets hundreds of years before there was a single Cabernet Sauvignon vine in California.

On the other hand, Zinfandel is a grape that became famous in California. When you think about Zinfandel, the first place you think about is California. Now Zinfandel actually is a European grape from Croatia, but it became famous once it got to California, so it seems reasonable to me to make it the California State Wine. Now if we could just get more California wine makes to stop making overripe Zinfandel….

2001 Savannah Chanelle, Zinfandel, Santa Cruz Mountains, Estate Bottled

Medium. Nose and fruit are dominated by raspberry flavors, moderate acid, moderate tannins, and a long fruity finish. This fine example Zinfandel is made from the almost 100 year old vineyard adjacent to the old Savannah Chanelle winery that were rescured by Daniel Gehrs in the mid seventies. Although it is 15.5% alcohol, it did not taste overripe to me. It seems to have improved from when I first tasted it at the winery last spring. My rating 88.

1992 Ridge, Zinfandel, Late Harvest, Lytton Springs Estate Vineyard

Very dark garnet. Strawberry aromas. Very sweet strawberry and raspberry fruit flavors, soft acid, moderate soft tannins, and long raspberry fruit finish. Although this Zinfandel has 16.0% alcohol and is very sweet with 8% residual sugar, I detected only a slight hint of over ripeness. I think I like the 1991 better. My rating 85.

2004, Cline, Zinfandel, California, Ancient Vines

Dark. Nose has aromas of strawberries and cherry. Big concentrated strawberry and cherry fruit flavors, moderate acid, modest tannins, and a long overripe fruit flavors on the finish. Another example of the overripe, high alcohol (15.0%) style of Zins which are popular in California winemaking today. We are going to make this the offical California state wine? Not rated.