Opened an hour ahead of time, and a good thing, too. A bit sour at first, but developed nicely and was very good at dinner. More tomorrow.
I opened the bottle 3 hours before dinner tonight.
With tournedos Rossini, which was the reason for choosing the wine.
(Ok, semi-Rossini; I used chanterelles instead of truffles.)
I opened it initially with last night's spaghetti just because I needed a bottle of red. And I wanted an out if necessary.
The night in the fridge and the open time helped a lot. Still very, very tannic, but you can see the California fruit. So tannic that wood isn't an issue. It sticks to your teeth. After dinner, another hour of open, it started to show some real fruit. I think it needs 5 – 10 more years.
'98 was a somewhat difficult year in Sonoma County. The wines that I've had are generally pretty hard, and this is a rather extreme example. Yet, the zins are developing well. Right now I'd call this wine "good", but given time I think it can become excellent.
Bought at the winery for $25.00 in 10/02.