WTN: 2006 Ravenswood "Vintner's Blend" California Zinfandel

$17.95 at Vintages; 13.5% alc./vol. The Ravenswood website lists varietal composition as: 76% Zinfandel, 9% Carignane, 8% Petite Sirah and 7% "mixed blacks" (intriguing as to what that last bit might comprise...).

Clear, attractive dark garnet colour. A bit disjointed and closed upon opening, though the bottle was pretty cold (I expect that with a day's worth of aeration it will all come together nicely, as nearly all decent reds do). A sweet oak overlay lifts itself to reveal juicy ripe bramble fruit and liquorous black cherry. It's all fruit and oak spice on the nose. Ripe and fleshy on the entry, with sweet fruit and pleasantly grainy tannin right on the fore-palate. Raspberry fruit, sweet perfumey oak and chalkiness on the mid-palate turn into a pleasant dusty-fruit combo towards the finish. Some alcoholic warmth and ripe fruit again towards the finish.

Very nice already, but as I say - it will be better yet given a day or so to come together in the open bottle.

[David M. Bueker]

The Vintner's Blend used to be my go-to wine in the mid-90s.

I've never tried one, but yep, for $18 this bottle sounds like a good zin alright. What's the Ravenswood Sonoma County and Napa County priced ? They are $17 here, may be a better wine, a better deal.

Paul wrote;
……7% "mixed blacks" (intriguing as to what that last bit might comprise...).

My guess maybe some Alicante and Mataro (Mourvedre).

In a 30 Second Wine Advisor, Robin discusses “Mixed Black Grapes”.

http://www.wineloverspage.com/wineadvis ... 080225.php

Salute

Hey guys///rather than staring a new Ravenswood thread, I'll piggy back on this one: In my cellar sort, I found a 2002 Ravenswood Barricia Vineyard buried at the bottom of the stack. Is this a "cull/cooking" wine?

[David M. Bueker]

I found a 2002 Ravenswood Barricia Vineyard buried at the bottom of the stack. Is this a "cull/cooking" wine?

If the acidity is 6 g/l or higher (they usually quote acid figures on the back) then yes - cook with it. If it's lower then try drinking first. Sometime in the mid-late '90s Joel Peterson decided that Zinfandel needed more acid than Mosel Riesling. The results did not age well.

DAY TWO IMPRESSIONS: Just as I suspected, the wine did indeed gain cohesion - and today it is very fleshy and perfumey, with lovely French oak accents atop a chewy, dusty, grippy structure with gentle acidity and light bramble aromas. Very clearly a warm-climate wine and a change of pace from what I normally seek out, but a good example of its type - and that's what counts.

Paul B, see if you can find the Lodi from Ravenswood. Nice juice!

BTW...`06 H of P Baco Noir is here ($10 half-bottle). Are you going to rant?!!

I found a 2002 Ravenswood Barricia Vineyard buried at the bottom of the stack. Is this a "cull/cooking" wine?

If the acidity is 6 g/l or higher (they usually quote acid figures on the back) then yes - cook with it. If it's lower then try drinking first. Sometime in the mid-late '90s Joel Peterson decided that Zinfandel needed more acid than Mosel Riesling. The results did not age well.

Righty at 6.1%!

I might still try it!

Paul B, see if you can find the Lodi from Ravenswood. Nice juice!

BTW...`06 H of P Baco Noir is here ($10 half-bottle). Are you going to rant?!!

Nope.

I don't drink much Henry of Pelham Baco anymore - I find some of the smaller producers make more interesting examples of Baco (Colio's is great, but could use some oak - truly it could). H of P's gives me rare histamine headaches (and I truly get those very infrequently with wine in general). I don't think I've even tried the '06 yet though.

I'm rereading 'Angels Visits' by David Darlington and just got to the page where they mention Vintners Blend:

" At Ravenswood the crew established a 'Chianti vat' into which was crushed each small batch of grapes as it came in, drawing out the fermentation with subsequnet additions, as is traditionally done in Tuscany. All of it would eventualy end up in the Ravenswood Vintners Blend, the Zinfandel that Joel releases young and sells cheap ("Chateau Cash Flow",) in the winery's specialised vernacular."


Byt he by, your gruesome monopoly seems to be charging way over the odds for this wine. Your $18 CAD works out at around 9.75GBP and we get Vintners Blends for under 7GBP incl all our taxes; indeed the Wine Soc has the Ravenswood Lodi Old Vine Zin at 8.50

"gruesome monopoly"

I love that phrase!

I'm rereading 'Angels Visits' by David Darlington and just got to the page where they mention Vintners Blend:

" At Ravenswood the crew established a 'Chianti vat' into which was crushed each small batch of grapes as it came in, drawing out the fermentation with subsequnet additions, as is traditionally done in Tuscany. All of it would eventualy end up in the Ravenswood Vintners Blend, the Zinfandel that Joel releases young and sells cheap ("Chateau Cash Flow",) in the winery's specialised vernacular."


Byt he by, your gruesome monopoly seems to be charging way over the odds for this wine. Your $18 CAD works out at around 9.75GBP and we get Vintners Blends for under 7GBP incl all our taxes; indeed the Wine Soc has the Ravenswood Lodi Old Vine Zin at 8.50

Peter, that may have been the way it was done in the good old by and by, but since Ravenswood has been purchased by Constellation, I seriously doubt it is still done in that homey and comfortable way.

And I'll be in the minority around here, apparently, but I believe the VB is a shadow of what it used to be. The Single Vineyards, I believe, are still capable of being lovely wines, mind you. I think the VB has become simply a commodity wine.

I would expand on what Hoke said by saying very few commercial wines are made as ”field blends” or by co-fermentations. The wines are more likely to be fermented separately by grape variety (and I’ll even say by the numerous clones (those that have been identified anyway) of the same variety) and then blended and assembled much later on in the winemaking process. The only batch that might be “field blended” or undergo co-fermentations is the small lots of “old mixed black grapes” that still exist.

Salute

Peter, that may have been the way it was done in the good old by and by, but since Ravenswood has been purchased by Constellation, I seriously doubt it is still done in that homey and comfortable way.

And I'll be in the minority around here, apparently, but I honestly don't believe the VB is a shadow of what it used to be. .

As you say, it is a historical quote and I didn't expect anyone to assume it is made the same way today. But 'Ch Cashflow' is, I believe as valid as ever.

I think that VB is a shadow of what it used to be, and I suspect that is what you actually meant to say

Yes, Peter, thank you. I'll go back and change it.