1998 Topolos Russian River Valley, Piner Heights Zinfandel
This one is very sweet, or it’s over the top, I’m not sure which. Okay, I don’t think it is over the top. I’ve had their Zin port, and this reminds me a bit of that one. If you like very ripe Zinfandels, you’ll probably love this one. It sort of reminds me of the 2002 Cline Ancient Vines Zinfandel.
Let me find some desert to see if it improves.
2001 Adelaida Paso Robles Zinfandel $22
I’m not sure what to say about this one, as my first thought was that it would be a decent pizza wine. And in fact I tried it with my home-made pizza, and it was good. I’m not tasting anything outstanding though, and that bothers me. For the price, I think I can come up with better pizza wines.
2002 Caymus Vineyards Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon $50
http://www.caymus.com/
This is a very nice wine. It is dark red in color. I can smell a touch of smoke with a lot of dark fruit. There are lovely tastes of dark cherries, leather, cigar-box, a touch of mocha and perhaps a bit of coffee.
This wine is extremely well-balanced, and I’m very sad that I have none left.
2001 Ridge California Zinfandel Paso Robles
I never know which Ridge Zinfandels to buy, as I don’t care for the overripe, jammy fruit bombs that most people like, but I do like a lot of pepper.
So it was with reservation that I picked up this bottle. I was quite pleased. While it has quite a bit of fruit, it is not overripe, and there is a bit of pepper in there too.
Marietta Cellars Old Vine Red Lot Number Thirty-four $10
http://www.mariettacellars.com/
For several years, Marietta Cellars Old Vine Red was my “pizza wine.” I went through as much of lot numbers twenty-two through twenty-six as I could find. Then my source dried up.
While traveling for the holidays, I came across a bottle of Lot Number thirty-four. I grabbed that as fast as I could.
It is still a great wine for the price.
I’ve asked about it at several of the local wine stores that I’ve visited, and no one has heard of it. It is high time to get serious about finding someone to order it for me.