Art of the Table

Art of the Table -- Wine Wednesdays! - Reports
Products for Entertaining
A specialty food, beverage & tabletop retail store.
606 Wealthy SE Grand Rapids, MI
askus@artofthetable.com

 Louis Benton Steakhouse

September 14, 2005 - Big Fat Zinfandels

Sierra Vista 2000 “Reeves Vineyard” El Dorado County $19.75
Color: clear, deep garnet, slight variation
Aroma: spiced red berries, raspberry, brambleberry, no oak
Flavor: red cherry, kirsch, raspberry, earth, medium plus tannins
Definitely an Old World styled Zin, with lots of fruit accents; also exhibiting a touch of earth as well as structured acidity and tannin. A rare age-able Zin, drinking at its peak now with 2-3 more years of similar pleasure. This remained a favorite throughout the night when revisited.
Pair with any grilled red meat, especially lamb or bison.

Ballentine 1999 “BG” Napa Valley $25.50
Color: clear, deep ruby, slight variation
Aroma: fragrant and bursts out, red berry, raspberry, toast
Flavor: ripe berry, black cherry, raspberry, vanilla, medium tannin
A nice contrast to the Sierra Vista, this is fully Californian in style while still showing some restraint for a Zin. It really jumps out of the glass and maintains that exuberance on the palate and in the finish. Clearly made from very ripe fruit, this has style and singular character, it was the most unique wine of the night. Pair this with everything from grilled game to pasta with red sauce.

Lolonis 1999 “Reserve” Mendocino $33.00
Color: clear, medium garnet, slight to medium variation
Aroma: intense, almost sweet red cherry, candied berry, vanilla
Flavor: candied raspberry, red cherry, vanilla, mocha, soft tannins
This is what excellent red Zin is like. Ripe with hints of jam, this wine blew everyone away as it seemed the level of the competition heightened. Soft, smooth and velvety, this is drinking at its peak, I wouldn’t wait another day to consume it. Again, a completely different style of Zin from the rest; pair with a hard cheese of character, like aged provolone.

Cosentino 2002 “CigarZin” Lodi $28.50
Color: semi-opaque ruby, very little variation
Aroma: bright ripe red berry, vanilla, sweet cherry
Flavor: black cherry, vanilla, black licorice, very soft tannin
Mitch Cosentino labels this his “CigarZin” as he intends it to be enjoyed after dinner with cigars. It’s definitely on the sweet side and if that’s your bag then you’ll love this. Incredibly ripe and juicy, it explodes out of the glass with big aromas of cherries and licorice. Very soft tannins and big, extracted flavors give this “drink me now” status as well, I wouldn’t age it a day. At this point in the tasting this showed very well but didn’t differentiate itself from the rest of the wines so it got a little lost in the shuffle. I would love to try it with a big goopy half baked brownie.

Four Vines 2003 “Biker” Paso Robles $21.75
Color: almost opaque, very dark ruby, inky
Aroma: darker roasted berries, black cherry, toast, tar
Flavor: blackberry, black cherry, toast, earth, medium tannins
This is young, brash Zinfandel, the only ’03 we tried this night. As such it was super concentrated and powerful. This also stood out for its toasty/toasty quality as well as for the touch of earth it has. When I had lunch with Bill, owner of Four Vines, in August, he talked about how they really try to bring out the specificity of place with their reserve wines, and it’s really reflected in this Zinfandel. It was as distinct as any of tonight’s wines and as one of the least expensive, I’d have to put it near the top of the list for this night.

Zoom 2000 “D’Ambrosio” Napa Valley $43.00
Color: very mellow ruby, slight variation
Aroma: very ripe, almost stewed raspberry, black cherry, dill, pencil
Flavor: rich, nuanced blackberry, kirsch, coffee, spice
Zoom has a house style that I frankly have not been a fan of (They sure make Amy happy, though). They’re over the top, super-extracted, syrupy sweet bombs. So that’s what I was prepared for with the D’Ambrosio. Wow was I wrong! This wine firstly was not sweet, and secondly had so much complexity and character. It was clearly a level above the other wines in the tasting. What I suspect is that the ripeness of the fruit faded a bit and more earth notes developed in that process. I rarely recommend aging Zins, but the three or so years since this wine’s release have really benefited it. This was one of the best Zinfandels I’ve had this year. Not everyone at the tasting agreed with me, some found this wine not as pleasing as say, the Lolonis, which really wowed everyone. If you like subtlety and surprise in your Zins, this will definitely wow you.

Overall I was thrilled with the tasting, despite my self-proclaimed, “yuck, I hate Zinfandel” stance. The wines were all excellent examples from different regions and each showed unique character. I can enthusiastically recommend all the wines from the night and look forward to turning more of our customers on to Zinfandel.

*All of the wines we taste, no matter what night we tried them…even if it was over a year ago…are available either on our shelf or to special order. We are always very happy to special order a bottle of anything you’re looking for. If you are interested in trying some of these, please email or call us anytime and we will include it on our next order – almost always delivered within two to three days!
 
For more Local Wine Tasting Options try www.LocalWineEvents.com
wine Art of the Table sign spices salt and pepper shakers cold beer