Monday, November 19, 2007

Zin-O-Rama


The November tasting for The Confrerie des Vignerons de St. Vincent Macon was held at Vino Vixens located at 2929 SE Powell Blvd. Sure, a wine shop next to a bowling alley seems kinda funky, but this is a very cool shop with a great space for tasting events.
So, a great space, 32 participants and 9 great wines and what does that mean? It means a very exceptional monthly event, which by the way was hosted by Sam "I am REALLY serious about Zinfandel" Sundeleaf. Thanks Sam!

The stellar line-up of Zinfandel is as follows with my tasting notes and my scoring and price per bottle. Keep in mind that taste is subjective and opinions varied greatly on this tasting. If you feel strongly about my notes, please comment.



2005 Turley Old Vine: Astringent, peppery, a hint of raisin/dried fruit. A long finish (5) $27.75

2005 Mauritson-Rockpile: Big alcohol on the nose, sweet, almost port-like. A vanilla aftertaste and on the second tasting I was getting some "stemmy" aftertaste. (9) $38.84 Note: This was a big favorite of the rest of the group.

2005 Biale-Black Chicken: Raisiny/dried fruit character, peppery. (4) $34.30

2005 Martinelli-Giuseppe & Luisa: Vanilla on the nose, dried/purple fruit, really great balance that was consistent throughout the tasting. Long, long finish. (1) $57.99 Apparently Helen Turley can go head to head with her brother Larry (Turley Wine Cellars)

2005 Bella-Dry Creek: Tart fruit, a hint of vanilla on the nose, good structure and a nice finish.
(8) $28.34

2005 Ridge-Pagani: Really tart fruit, I am wondering if they acidified this wine during fermentation. Long finish. (6) $36.40

1997 Ridge-Pagani: Dried fruit and dried rose petals on the nose, very perfumy and showing some of its 10 years of age. This is probably not a classic "Zin", but I loved this wine. (2) $36.40

2005 Turley Juvenile: Peppery, some graphite and an almost "candy-like' fruit quality with high alcohol to boot. (7) $22.75

2005 Shenandoah Vineyard-Reserve-Paul's Vineyard: Dry, astringent with a big alcoholic nose (this sounds more like a description of W.C. Fields) Well melded fruit and wood flavors with a long finish. (3) $24.94


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