The Royal Tannin Bombs are finalizing the line-up for their massive Zinfandel tasting. The top Tier I tasting is to be held Friday, October 24, 2008. Please post your recommendations for our review to help determine which zins we should make sure to include – we don’t want to miss any quality sleepers.
Currently the contestants are as follows:
Tier I 10/24/2008 Valued at: $750+
Rosenblum Annette’s Reserve Redwood Valley Zinfandel 2005 14.7% alcohol $30
Martinelli Jackass Hill Vineyard Russian River Valley Zinfandel 2002 17.5% alcohol $200
Turley Cellars Hayne Vineyard Napa Valley Zinfandel 2005 16.1% alcohol $100
Lamborn Family Napa Valley Howell Mountain Propreitor Grown Zinfandel “Vintage” 2005 15.9% alcohol $43
Mystery Zin I $135
Mystery Zin II $220
Mystery Zin III $37
Tier 0 – The After Party (date TBD)
Flight I
Ye Old Zin (a very special mystery zin from Bad Man’s very own cellar)
Ye Special Old Zin (another very special mystery zin from Bad Man’s very own cellar)
Flight II
Mystery I
Mystery II
But first, go here and read all about the research we’ve put into honing down the playing field into a “reasonable” group of high-end contenders.
Then come back here and post your comments, suggestions, preferences, and please let us know which great zins we’re missing! As always, any and all comments are appreciated!
20/10/2008 at 11:15 am Permalink
Hello everyone,
I have removed the following two contenders to provide more focus to this Friday’s almighty Tier I Zin tasting:
A. Rafanelli Dry Creek Valley Sonoma County Zinfandel unfiltered 2006 14.8% alcohol $38
Limerick Lane “Collins Vineyard” Russian River Zinfandel unfiltered 2005 14.6% alcohol $29
Any thoughts on which wine you’re most interested in tasting, predictions on the ones you’ve previously tasted or read about? I’m assuming (and this is usually a bad thing for me to do) that the Martinelli will be a crowd favorite, but that when money and availability is included the Rosenblum Annette’s Reserve at $30 will be the go-to winner of the night.
24/10/2008 at 1:53 pm Permalink
First allow me to again thank our Liege (Badman) for the new stellar Zin recap. This will be very useful for future purchases as it succinctly catalogs our findings. Huzzah and thank you!!!
Regarding Tier 1 predictions, this tasting will truly be blind for me as I’ve only had the Rosenblum Annette so my prophesies are soley based on badman’s extensive research sheet and my own price resistance. Here goes:
1st place: Martinelli Jackass Hill Vineyard Russian River Valley Zinfandel 2002 – I hope/dread that I will love this wine.
2nd place: Mystery Zin I – the write-ups make me salivate. I’m in love sight unseen
3rd place: Rosenblum Annette’s Reserve Redwood Valley Zinfandel 2005 – a classic big Rosenblum zin from one of the original zin “R’s” and a bargain in this line-up
4th place: Mystery Zin III- the descriptions intrigue me so if the nose and flavor profile are true to the descriptions this will be a find for the price
5th place: Mystery Zin II- a poor showing for the most expensive wine in the tasting I know, but I fear a late harvest style zin in this bottle
6th place- Turley Cellars Hayne Vineyard Napa Valley Zinfandel 2005 – I’m worried that this wine is all hype and reputation and may be too young to show well.
7th place- Lamborn Family Napa Valley Howell Mountain Proprietor Grown Zinfandel “Vintage” 2005- Heidi Barret hasn’t shown well in the past and I fear the Helen Turley effect might be in play here too. I think one of our $15 faves (Renwood or Rancho Zabaco) could take this on with no trouble.
24/10/2008 at 2:24 pm Permalink
Okay, I wasn’t going to break it all the way down but since Tally-Ho blazed the trail I’ll take the bait:
1st place: Martinelli Jackass Hill Vineyard 2002 – this will win
2nd place: Mystery Zin I – can’t say too much here, but omg or oth…
3rd place: Mystery Zin II – can’t say too much here, but omg or oth…
4th place: Rosenblum Annette’s Reserve 2005 – this will continue to show well, even among these bruisers
5th place: Mystery Zin III – this will be nice but more reserved and mature than the Annette
6th place: Turley Hayne 2005 – I agree – this wine will not be good as Helen is no longer involved
7th place: Lamborn Family Howell Mountain “Vintage” 2005 – Heidi Barrett has to be THE most overrated wine maker of all time