graphic courtesy of finedesigngroup.com
Last year my wife Gabriele and I visited Sonoma, and enjoyed a number of excellent Zinfandels. A number of those Zinfandels were from Ravenswood, which is a well known name for Zinfandel but doesn’t ship a lot of its smaller production wines to the east coast.
There’s nothing wrong with the Ravenswood wine you can find in many area supermarkets, but their small batch and single vineyard stuff is much better. Gabriele signed up for a club membership, and every quarter we get three bottles sent to us directly.
Here are some thoughts on the latest three we’ve received:
2010 Ravenswood Barricia Zinfandel – opens with a very fragrant bouquet, with loads of dark fruit. The fruit is led by cassis and some blueberry, with a big lingering finish. This is a medium to full bodied wine and delicious.
2010 Ravenswood Bedrock Zinfandel – this is a powerful wine that is like a big, alcoholic cherry cola. That really sums it up. Not bad on its own, but nothing you’d want to pair any kind of food with at all.
2010 Ravenswood Old Hill Zinfandel — this is a special Zinfandel. The bouquet is bright fruit, more red than black. The wine is fruit forward and smooth, not over the top. It has a meaty texture to it without being heavy, the experience is very balanced. Just under 15 percent alcohol and you wouldn’t know it without looking at the label. Expensive at $60 retail but well worth it.
There are some local stores that carry these Ravenswood Zinfandels, Arrow Wine in Arlington is one. Or you may be able to have it shipped to you, depending on archaic wine distribution laws that date back to the end of Prohibition.
Zinfandel is a great wine for winter. Give a really good one a try before spring arrives.