Great show, it confirms my palate. I am not a fan of Zin, I have had one that I could drink, and that was the Neyer’s Zin, so thank you for putting it in the the list. Great wine. But pretty much every other Zin I have had sucked. They have all been too much (too jammy, too spicy, too oaky, too much).

An interesting show, nice to see you bash some wines a little more since it was blind.

Thanks for the help at the WL on Saturday!

An interesting show, nice to see you bash some wines a little more since it was blind.

Thanks for the help at the WL on Saturday!

QOTD: Bonterra’s Zin (05 i think) has a huge butterscotch finish that I loved and could drink for days upon days, Gnarlyhead 06 Zin i feel brought the thunder!

A bad zin… any white zin lol

QOTD: Neal rocked.

QOTD: I think the Rosenblum Monte Rosso 2005 is drinking exceptionally well right now. Having really enjoyed previous vintages of Frog’s Leap Zinfandel, I found the 2006 to be pretty disappointing (not the worst zin I’ve tasted recently, but the most disappointing since I expect good things from Frog’s Leap).

Great show, Gary! As an expat Frenchman now living in Wine Country, Zins were a wonderful discovery for me a few years back when I started getting into them. A friend of mine – another French expat – pretended he didn’t like Zin wines, and one day, at a BBQ he organized, I brought a bottle of Saracina’s Atrea Old Soul Red, which is a Zin-dominated blend (for those of you Prisoner fans out there, it’s a wine you will like, and it’s 10 bucks cheaper). I didn’t tell him it was a Zin, and he really liked it.

QOTD: I had a horrible Zin at a restaurant several months ago, but I don’t remember what winery produced it – I guess my mind blocked it out. It was incredibly harsh and vinous. I asked the waitress if the bottle had been opened too long, and she told me she had just opened it. Ugh.

As for Zins I love: the aforementioned Atrea ($25), the Quivira Dry Creek Zin (great value at $15) and the Jelly Jar Nova Vineyard from Lake County ($22) are my goto-under-$25 Zins. This Thanksgiving, I’ll open an ’05 Turley Old Vines and a ’06 Artezin from Mendocino ($15), but there’ll also be a Beaujolais Nouveau, and maybe a Cab or a Pinot Noir. Looking forward to it.

I recently had a big day tasting Zins, and to be honest, I wasn’t rocked by any of them. That being said, I don’t think I’ve ever been rocked by a Zin, even by a 97 Turley. I’m curious what Zins you’d suggest for a very old world palate who loves CdP, St. St. Joseph, and earth Primitivos.
The best one I had was Storybook Vy (an amazingly beautiful property) Eastern Exposure 2005, which had 10% Viognier blended in after fermentation. It was deep purple, almost black, with dark chocolate fondue, apricots and dark flowers on the nose, followed by soft black cherry and raspberries soda with good med+ acid. The CA wine peeps were very impressed.

Great job in the blind tasting today.
I think it would be better to keep the blinds to 4 wines max, since otherwise it gets really long and somewhat confusing.

I recently had a big day tasting Zins, and to be honest, I wasn’t rocked by any of them. That being said, I don’t think I’ve ever been rocked by a Zin, even by a 97 Turley. I’m curious what Zins you’d suggest for a very old world palate who loves CdP, St. St. Joseph, and earth Primitivos.
The best one I had was Storybook Vy (an amazingly beautiful property) Eastern Exposure 2005, which had 10% Viognier blended in after fermentation. It was deep purple, almost black, with dark chocolate fondue, apricots and dark flowers on the nose, followed by soft black cherry and raspberries soda with good med+ acid. The CA wine peeps were very impressed.

Great job in the blind tasting today.
I think it would be better to keep the blinds to 4 wines max, since otherwise it gets really long and somewhat confusing.

Too bad the Ravenswood wasn’t their Belloni. The 2005 showed Peterson’s greatness despite 05 not being a good year for zin. Easily one of the best I had in the past year.

Thanks for taking those hard shots for the team!!!!!!

QOTD: The worst recent zin- the entry level Ravenswood– real crap
The best recent zin- ’05 Ridge Lytton Springs

Matt Cassel & Co. getting it done………..GO PATS GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gary great episode I really love the blind episodes 🙂

I like Rancho Zabaco’s Sonoma Heritage Zin and 7 deadly zins worked for me. I am also a fan Folie A Deux’s Menage A Trois, which is primarily a zin blended red (can’t beat the 9-10 dollar price), Bogle’s Old Vines are okay as well.

I was disappointed with the entry-level Ravenswood, Rosenblum’s entry-level XXX, Seghesio (93 points really?) and Ridge’s Three Valleys. I keep hearing great things about Ridge though, and am looking forward to trying the Geyserville and Lytton Springs Zins.

Am a relative newby to wine, so I’m probably tailored to liking the fruitier zins.

GREAT show – Classic!

Nice to see that kind of “structure” on the show.

Our store has recently taken in the Silver Peak Zin. – fair quality at a fair price. Yet they do tend to over-oak, e.g.: their chardonnay.

(P.S.: Please more champagne-shows :-))

Thanks Gary. You confirmed what my wife and I have been seeing in California Zins the last couple years. We used to really enjoy them a lot, but rarely find ones we like anymore – so we now spend our time in other varietals. It could just be that you are changing/evolving our palates. But i think it is just the huge, over the top zins that are being made. I guess some people could then call them a great “date” wine – they are regularly getting into the 15%+ alcohol categories which does not make for an enjoyable wine for us.

Good show with some tough wines, and nice work with the blind tasting.

I had a tip about showing the color of a red wine for your viewers. I notice that the color seems more visible when you swirl the glass, than when you hold it up for the camera to see. Try swirling red wines behind a white background, and it will be clear for all to see.

Gary, thanks for calling it like you taste it buddy!

QOTD: Rocked my face off: a couple weeks ago my best bud was in town, and we popped open my bottle of 2001 Saxon Brown Zin…Jeff Gaffner product man, it was like plums and gorp(ya know the stuff with dried candied fruits and nuts and m&ms tons of spice, man, it was soooo awesome.

Threw up in my mouth a little: Like you had, the Ravenswood…meh, tasted watered down to me.

QOTD – Sucked – Cline Zinfandel, 2006 – Tastes like candy, and not good candy, crappy candy.

Best – Martinelli “Giuseppe & Luisa”

The road to the Super Bowl still goes through Nashville. Don’t celebrate too hard, yet.

QOTD: I haven’t had much Zin recently. I didn’t realize my Zin drinking was following a quality trend. Not too long ago, I had a serviceable Hayman & Hill Dry Creek Valley Zin, good QPR. In the past I’ve had Zinfandel mostly from the big producers, Ravenswood, Ridge, Rosenblum. I’ve also liked Robert Biale Zins but haven’t had one recently. I’m still itching to try the Magito Zinfandel that was a hit on the thunder show.

QOTD: Had one nice blend of Zinfandel (or Primitivo, as it’s named usually over here in Europe) and Cab. Don’t remember the name, was about 8?, i.e. 10$ and woth the buy

Gary Vee,

When you said that the Thomas Henry was the wine ‘to ruin all occasions’, I actually laughed out loud.

Here are two things I wish for The Thunder Show in 2009:

1. More blind tastings

b. More smack

Because if you’ve got something bad to say about a wine, let’s hear it!

Regards,

Fred Rogers

Gary Vee,

When you said that the Thomas Henry was the wine ‘to ruin all occasions’, I actually laughed out loud.

Here are two things I wish for The Thunder Show in 2009:

1. More blind tastings

b. More smack

Because if you’ve got something bad to say about a wine, let’s hear it!

Regards,

Fred Rogers

In a word “Honest”. Way to keep it real! Doing it blind is like taking truth syrum. You may ruffle some feathers, but in the end it’s YOUR PAL!

QOTD: Just had an ’05 SIMI Zin. Not half bad.

I’m looking foward to sitting in Wine Library Stadium when you own the JETS!

QOTD: Berghold ?Foot Stomp? Lodi Zinfandel was a good blend of New and Old World. 19 bucks I think, We loved it. I can’t remember what sucked, It’s been a while. Have a great T-Day everyone!~

Preston Vineyards from Dry creek rawks. great balance, and organic and not too pricey. Worst Zins…wow, I’ve had a lot. Here in No.Cal we’re exposed to a lot of them. My Mother in law loves the Ravenswood vinters blend, that’s right up there in pukesville for me. As are many of the lower level rosenblums that are part of seemingly every street fair in alameda.