Zin tasting with my school wine club. Nonblind.
1990 Ridge Howell Mountain- ok, but a little tired. Pruney, leather, some funk. Fully resolved abd pleasant, but not serious. Drink up.
1990 Ridge Geyserville- A clear step up from the Howell. Lots of musk and leather on the nose but a much stronger core of plummy fruit. Put on weight with air, but never shook the (literal) skunk nose. Nice.
1992 Ridge Geyserville- Unanimous WOTN and easily my WOTY so far. All the tertiary complexity of the 1990, but buffered by pure, gorgeous cassis and blackberry fruit. Not blind, but this was a dead ringer for aged Monte Bello and every bit a Draper wine. Brilliant, stupendous, so obviously the best wine of night that even thw neophyte in our group could tell. Faded by hour 2 in the glass, but what a show.
2004 Ridge Carmichael- Fine, if a bit simple after the aged Geezers. Very Ridge, with perfumed black fruits and violets. Not too much heat, nice acidity, but a tad hollow. Excellent QPR.
2007 Bedrock Wine Co. Bedrock Vineyard- Way too much charred french oak. Spiced black coffee nose. Underneath there's some ok raw material, but nothing like what the Carlisle or Turley are working with in terms of raw fruitiness, and it can't carry the oak treatment. I bet this could been great aged in neutral barrels.
2006 Carlisle CarlisleVineyard- To my palate this was flawed by stewed fruit, but if you're tolerant of overripe aromas I think this could be excellent. Obvious concentration, good structure, nice florality to compliment the fruit. I don't see this as an long ager because the fruit will get even more pruney, but it definitely improved with air tonight.
2006 Turley Dogtown- A revelation. Red fruit, fresh bright, not at all stewed. More like Grenache than Zin. Sort of simple, but not jammy or hot despite a listed 15.7 alc. Just pure glorious red fruit. My favorite of the younger wines, and that shocked me.
All in all a very good tasting- the only disappointment was the Bedrock, but that was a wildcard anyways.