Wine & Spirits - June 2019 - 57

YEAR'S BEST ZINFANDELS & MIXED BLACKS
90 | Holly's Hill

$25

2017 El Dorado Petit Patriarche (Best Buy) ^
A blend of carignane, cinsault and counoise,
with a little syrah and grenache, this really
captures the brightness of the first three varieties with its scents of wild strawberries and
raspberries. The flavors are translucent red,
with high acid and light tannins that make
the wine feel playful. It will be terrific chilled,
for a picnic. (378 cases) -P.J.C.
516108

90 | Iron Hub

$32

90 | Rombauer Vineyards

$60

90 | Sierra Starr

$24

2015 Amador County Clockspring Zinfandel (Best Buy) ^ This feels almost Italian
in character, with its tobacco-leaf scent, briary sour-cherry flavors and savory creosote
notes. It has the firm tannins for braised beef.
(300 cases) -P.J.C.
516527
2016 Sierra Foothills Proprietor Selection
Zinfandel ^ A formidable red that starts out
blunt and mildly reductive, this is firm and
concentrated, riding its extract and its oak
with a powerful plum-skin grip. A bruiser of
a zin; for brisket. (740 cases) -P.J.C.
516077
2016 Sierra Foothills Super Nova Petite
Sirah ^ This is massive and powerful, with
fruit-compote scents and a big plummy core
of fruit structured by formidable tannins. It's
firm but also succulent; for Sichuan toothpick lamb. (200 cases) -P.J.C.

S O NO M A C O UN T Y
515083

92 | Rodney Strong

$25

2015 Sonoma County Knotty Vines Zinfandel ^ Ten percent of this wine came from
six acres of zinfandel planted in 1904 at the
River West Vineyard in Healdsburg; another
14 percent came from the vineyard's 1940
block. Justin Seidenfeld blended that with
fruit from 40-year-old estate vineyards in
Alexander and Russian River valleys, producing what is, on first taste, a gentle, richly
oaked, raspberry-scented zin. With air, it
begins yielding spice the way chorizo yields
spice as it warms, then builds with a lovely
fruit freshness and raspberry clarity. By the
fourth day open, it's fresher and more vibrant
than ever, suggesting a long life ahead. (W&S
2/19) -J.G.
516364

90 | Buena Vista

$42

2016 Sonoma County Attila's Selection
Zinfandel ^ Brian Maloney blends this wine
from zinfandel grown in the Sonoma and
Russian River valleys. It's zesty, with an ironoxide undertone to the black fruit. The tan-

nins have the bitter spice of black pepper,
and firm up the wine's round structure. Built
for beef. (670 cases) -J.G.

ALEXANDER VALLEY
516465

93 | Ridge

$35

2016 Alexander Valley Boatman Zinfandel ^ Ridge introduced Boatman with the
2014 vintage. It grows on bush vines on steep
east-facing terraces above Alexander Valley, planted by Tim Boatman in the 1970s.
Maybe it's the morning sun that instilled
such a fresh-berry flavor in this wine-
though you have to go through the tannins
to get it. They are savory and intense, bringing along some high-toned spice, like fennel
seeds and hibiscus. Dan Veit of the Malibu
Beach Inn described the flavors as "concentrated raspberry membrillo." Hold onto it.
(1,200 cases) -J.G.

DRY CREEK VALLEY
516328

95 | Ravenswood

$40

94 | Joseph Jewell

$42

93 | Truett Hurst

$40

2016 Dry Creek Valley Teldeschi Vineyard
Zinfandel ^ Back in 1982, Frank Teldeschi was
growing grapes for Gallo when Joel Peterson convinced him to sell him a few tons of
grapes on the side. Peterson has been making a Teldeschi Zinfandel ever since, but the
family didn't allow him to label it as a single
vineyard until 1997. Today, Frank's son John
farms the vines, the oldest dating back to
1913, the plants mostly zin, along with some
petite sirah and carignane. And Gary Sitton makes the wine, his Teldeschi being the
loveliest of Ravenswood's 2016 zins. It has
generosity and savor, two opposing characteristics that create energy in the wine so
that, when you taste it, you can breathe in
the black-raspberry fruit and breathe out the
spicy old-vine tannins. The lasting perfume
might bring to mind the bark of a wild cherry
tree, as if the sap were pushing through that
bark in spring. This is California wine, and
it's a world-class wine that costs $40 a bottle.
The wine market is nothing if not imperfect.
(750 cases) -J.G.
516084

91 | Alexander Valley
Vineyards

$20

90 | Ravenswood

$40

2016 Dry Creek Valley Grist Vineyard Zinfandel ^ Adrian Manspeaker makes this wine
from an organically farmed vineyard on the
top of Bradford Mountain, the vines planted
in 1974 by Bill Hambrecht and now farmed
by his grandson, Woody. It grows on red volcanic soils, and the more time you spend with
it, the more you may be convinced the flavors
have the brightness of sun on stone. It starts
off dark and juicy, with some blackberry-jam
notes over the fresh red-currant coolness.
And it's that currant flavor that takes over
with time, its fragrance expanding while the
wine's structure remains tight and formal.
Cellar it for a few years, then decant a bottle
for roast eggplant stuffed with ground veal.
(200 cases) -J.G.
516344

2016 Alexander Valley Big River Zinfandel ^ Big River is surrounded by the Russian
River on three sides, tucked into a meander
east of Healdsburg called Digger Bend. Zinfandel has grown there for more than a century, those ancient vines providing a rich and
generous red. This 2016 is rooted in earthy
extract, with sweet, plummy flavors that feel
soft and youthful. Decant it for slow-smoked
ribs. (350 cases) -J.G.

2016 Dry Creek Valley The One-Armed
Man ^ This blend is half zin, the balance mostly
syrah and petite sirah, coming together in a
wine that delivers intensity of flavor without
weight. It's clean, rich and generous, balancing a blueberry burst of fruit with an earthy
presence of tannins, their depth bridging
stemmy spice and tarry fruit skin. Bright and
seamless. (2,000 cases) -J.G.

516206

2015 Alexander Valley Sin Zin Zinfandel
(Best Buy) ^ Cool and spicy, this is a brightly
fruited zinfandel with the woodland scents
of bay and tree bark. Wine & Spirits contributing editor Patrick J. Comiskey said that it
reminded him of "a shaded trail on Mount
Tam" and the scent of Marin chaparral. It's
smoky and a little wild, a wine to decant for
spit-roasted boar. (4,000 cases) -J.G.
516325

WINE & SPIRITS

JUNE 2019

http://shop.avvwine.com/shop/p-304-2014-sin-zin.aspx

Wine & Spirits - June 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - June 2019