Tasting Date: 10/10/2008
Tasting Geeks: Tally-Ho, Full-Throttle, Bad Man
Tasting Theme: Zinfandel, Tier II, 2008 – assaggio majoralus
The Contenders:
Ridge Lytton Springs California 2005 14.4% alcohol $32
St. Francis Pagani Vineyard Reserve Sonoma Valley Zinfandel 2004 15.3% alcohol $35
Rosenblum Annette’s Reserve Redwood Valley Zinfandel 2005 14.7% alcohol $32
Ridge Pagani Ranch California Zinfandel 2006 14.8% alcohol $48
A. Rafanelli Dry Creek Valley Sonoma County Zinfandel unfiltered 2006 14.8% alcohol $38
Outcome: Tally-Ho and Full-Throttle liked the A. Rafanelli best, with the Rosenblum Annette’s Reserve coming in a close second. Bad Man had that reversed: I felt the supreme nose on the Rosenblum Annette’s Reserve’s pronounced it the final winner, in contrast to the terribly off-putting (or is it putting-off?) nose on the A. Raf., which really hurt it, possibly even ousting it from taking top honours. I do readily admit the fruit and body of the A Raf. was the best in the show.
With this, the Zinfandel Tier II final assaggioa majoralus tasting out of the way, we now have the final choices for the legendary Zinfandel, Tier I, 2008 tasting.
They will be posted on the web site in a new blog, which you can see here
Read the full tasting here, then come back to post your comment.
14/10/2008 at 5:48 pm Permalink
First, Bad Man here. Let me steal the light for a second. I’m old school, granted. I haven’t tasted serious non-Bordeaux wine since the turn of the century. But consistently, tasting after tasting, starting in the late 80’s and continuing all through the 90’s, the Ridge Lytton Springs (or sometimes Ridge Lytton Estate) was hands down the BEST a Zinfandel could possibly be. Then along came Martinelli and Turley, but those were nigh impossible to find so I don’t really consider them “regular” bottlings. The OTHER major contender throughout the 90’s was the impeccably beautiful Ridge Pagani Ranch. So that those two wines showed so utterly devastatingly abysmally here confounds me, but I guess it goes toward proving a sad point – the end of the Ridge era. Pencils down. End of enlightenment.
14/10/2008 at 5:50 pm Permalink
Second, based on the reviews I read from each of you, I’d rather put the Limerick Lane Collin’s Vineyard into the Tier I than the A. Raf., both Full-Throttle and I (Bad Man) found the nose absolutely appalling.
We will have to discuss – I suggest a shoot-out between the LL and the A. Raf, but I know our cellar holds very few bottles of the latter and the former I’ll have to trec to Jackson’s to see if they have more. UPDATE – I have the LL Collins in hand.
14/10/2008 at 6:03 pm Permalink
And let me just add one more thing – almost none of these wines blew me away, none of them are what I would really call a world-class wine except the Rosenblum Annette’s Reserve 2005. The rest are poseurs and downright atrocious past-performers.
15/10/2008 at 9:30 am Permalink
I agree that this tasting yielded less than overwhelming results given the pedigrees and price-points of the wines on the table. I went into the tasting expecting a full-on shoot out with at least 4 of the 5 bottles contending for top honors. Instead both Ridge bottles were real disappointments; the St Francis was ok but not as good as some of the less expensive Renwoods we tasted in preliminaries; the Rosenblum Annette’s Reserve 2005 was decent but over the top with sugary syrup (reach for the insulin). The A Raf had an off-putting nose but had the best flavor profile for what I look for in a Zin.
As we only have 1 A Rafanelli and can’t easily get another we could have a shoot-out with the Limerick Lane, but that would only work if the LL wins. Assuming that’s your prediction, we could do this. Worse comes to worse, I can offer up my own bottle of A Raf if we need it for Tier I and replace it with an Annette’s Reserve for my Dad.
15/10/2008 at 10:35 am Permalink
I have the Collins in-hand, if you and Full-Throttle can meet with me this evening for a quick taste-off at 5 in the PM at your place we could give them a swirl whilst watching the debate.
15/10/2008 at 11:00 am Permalink
Does that mean we taste the A Raf against the LL, knowing we won’t need a second bottle for back-up to move into Tier 1?
15/10/2008 at 11:14 am Permalink
If Full-Throttle is okay with the possibility of not including the A. Raf in Tier I, then yes, the A. Raf would be out of Tier I either way, win or loose. Unless you both (or all three of us after this second trial) feel strongly enough that we want to include it, and you’re willing to let the last bottle (your personal one) in your cellar go to Tier I.
The reason I propose this is to move the LL A. Raf show-down out of the Tiers entirely, really. From what I felt and what Full-Throttle wrote I don’t think the A. Raf is worthy to proceed, BUT I would love to see how the two lush full-fruit bodies of the LL and A. Raf stand up against each other, because I see them more in direct competition with each other due to such similarity of style, with neither bringing the whole package we expect from a Tier I contender.
15/10/2008 at 11:39 am Permalink
OK, I’m really confused now. If we want to see how these two do against each other (which I agree has merit) but expect both to fall short of having the goods for the Tier 1 entries, why the race to do the tasting? I agree LL and A Raf would be a great assagio minor but if there will be no impact to the Tier 1 line-up we could do this anytime, right? Am I missing the boat altogether???
FT, we need to hear from you.
15/10/2008 at 11:48 am Permalink
Sorry, I didn’t think it was a race. What you say is true, but why wait? I would think we would want to do it before the final tasting, so we have all our research complete. Since that is next Friday, and I’m only free tonight and next Wednesday night, why not do it tonight? I guess I sport a fairly open dance card; if it’s too late of a notice for you two then of course we’ll have to wait. But why wait, if tonight isn’t already occupied?
15/10/2008 at 3:22 pm Permalink
Hey sorry. Today is definitely no good. Actually the rest of this week is no good. I already have plans and cannot do any type of tasting. If you want, we can do the LL/A Raf next week, and then do the Tier 1, within the first week of Nov, Nov7. However, the (maybe) napa trip is in the same week.
15/10/2008 at 3:28 pm Permalink
It would be hard to move the Tier I (for me), as this is just a two bottle pair-off (meaning we don’t want to waste a prime-time Friday night on it), so it’s not a big deal – we can do it any night after work next week, but I would prefer Wednesday.
15/10/2008 at 3:33 pm Permalink
I can do next Wednesday if that works for everyone.