WTN: Hop Kiln Zinfandel “Primitivo”1996, 14.1% abv, $22. I know, “Can Zin age?” is last year’s topic, but this is a belated yes vote. I knew from previous bottles that there would be a lot of sediment, so we decanted it about an hour before mealtime. Even decanting was a pleasure! I don’t expect much on the nose from zin, but this one yielded a nice resinous aroma of pinon pine and—rare in zin—a little tobacco. On the tongue, it was sappy and chocolate with some lingering bitterness (which I liked). “Sappy” sounds like a young wine, and this shows no signs of senescence. One concession to age, though, is good: my tasting log of the first bottle back in ’99 complained about excessive oak. Oak is completely integrated. I look forward to opening the last 4 bottles in years to come.
Oh yeah, the food: Lamb chops rubbed with smoked paprika, polenta and kale. We add a pinch of cayenne to kale and while I don’t expect zinfandel to be especially good with greens, this one matched surprisingly well. Life is good!