Ridge Zin

When we (Ian, Jacquie, Michael, Carol and my sister) were all at the Ridge Lytton Springs winery last week, I picked up a 375 of their 1989 Geyserville Zin. I've had some bad experiences with aging Zin - including Ridge - but the label notes sounded interesting, and the price wasn't terrible at ~$20. The label was damaged, so I got an extra 10% off, so how bad could it be?

Their Geyserville bottling has always been at or near the top of my favorites, and this wine is no exception.

At 15 years of age, there is none of the characteristic jammy briar fruit remaining in the wine. Instead, the wine more closely resembles a fine old American oak aged Cabernet. The alcohol is modest at ~13½%, and the wine is medium colored with brick at the rim. The nose is fully developed and very inviting, and the palate still has sweet fruit and length in the finish. This is one of the nicest old Zins I've tasted in awhile.

I guess I'm going to have to exercise more restraint with the younger Zins I'm holding so that they have a chance to get to this point!

I also picked up a bottle of their 2001 Syrah-Grenache blend (which I've never seen before, and might be only available at the winery) and made the mistake of opening it a couple of days ago with turkey leftovers. The wine is really gorgeous, and quite HUGE. Needless to say, it stomped all over that turkey, so I left it alone until after I was finished eating. I may just have to go back to the winery and get some more.

The Ridge Lytton Springs winery is fairly new, and rather high tech as wineries go. It's the largest hay bale structure in the State IIRC. It also has a huge solar cell array on the roof that provides most of the electricity to run the place. It's well worth a visit if you're in the area.

Tom S