After last week's less-than-inspiring bottle of 2008 Dunning Vin de Casa, I thought I needed to re-visit my stash and recalibrate my palate. Tonight's bottle of 2008 Dunning Vineyards Private Reserve Zinfandel, Paso Robles more than re-affirmed my faith in this small winery. Exudes aromas of French oak, blackberry, black cherry and black pepper. Very full on the palate with black fruits, spice and unctuous dark cocoa flavors. Tannins are off the charts on this one. And although I don't lay Zinfandel down, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend others putting this one down for a couple of years. Impossibly long, dusty, dry cocoa finish. 15.5% alcohol. About as good as Zinfandel gets.
Dinner tonight was a whole chicken I rubbed down with BBQ spices and then slowly rotisseried over charcoal and hickory for two hours. Moist and delicious with the perfect amount of smoke, but still overwhelmed by the sheer weight of the wine.
You know, this was one of the wineries that we wanted to hit, but had heard that they didn't have their tasting room open because they ran out of wine. That was a good sign to me, although I was bummed. I'm very tempted to join their wine club just so I can see for myself. Hmmm...
ReplyDeleteI'm like you - I don't keep my Zin around for long at all. We kept an '01 Dashe for a few years on accident & were thrilled with the result, but overall, I want to drink them. Now.
Ran out of wine? Wow. That's a problem that I'll bet every winemaker wishes he had to deal with! :)
ReplyDeleteWe bought my father-in-law a 6-pack of one of their Zins for Christmas a few years ago and he promptly joined the club after that.
And yeah, I've enjoyed a few older Zins. But I really like to drink them young when they have a lot of fruit and spice to offer. The older they get, the more they tend to become more like a Cab or whatever - not why I buy Zinfandel.
I had posted a comment to this thread and it disappeared??? the essence was, sounds delicious - what's the price point? :)
ReplyDeleteJ
I don't really look at the receipt when the wines come in. But I want to say mid-high $20 range. Dunning also releases a Ridge Top Zin from a smaller parcel at the top of the mountain where they get the Zinfandel grapes. I think that one is a few bucks more.
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