To further the experience of wine consumption in Utah, the club will be maintaining a blog. This will feature wines available in the state and various member reviews of said wines. We will have main contributors and guest bloggers. If you have a nice bottle or glass at a restaurant or find a bottle in the wine store and feel like writing about it, let’s get it published here.
2006 Dry Creek Vineyard’s Heritage Zinfandel Sonoma County
Phil, Ann and I (Jon) tried this wine with some take out orders from TGIF. This wine was paired with Jack Daniels Chicken, Ribs and Shrimp. True to it’s Zinfandel name, this had the hearty blackberry and plum flavors that are in the general description , what was absent to my pallet was the pepper. If you like classic Zins, you will enjoy this wine. Some other reviews mention white pepper, chocolate, raspberry and vanilla flavors, none of those stood out to me but maybe they will for you. We also paired this wine with a Red Velvet Bundt cake from Nothing Bundt cakes. I welcome any comments from those of you who venture out in search of this wine.
Here is what Phil had to say about this wine
This Zinfandel is a pleasant surprise, and a nice value. It has every quality you expect from a Zin: strong nose full of berry and fruit , full bodied taste with classic zinfandel flavors, and the abilty to stand up to strong flavored meats and foods. Like most young zinfandels the flavors filled out, and mellowed with aeration. Overall this wine is a nice find, it isn’t quite equal to my favorite Rombauer or Gerard Zinfandel….but is half the price. On the other side…it has more balance and subtle flavor than the value priced Cline or 7 deadly Zins. I would enjoy tasting this head to head with the Rosenbloom Cellars Zinfandel..another great wine at a similar price.
General Description (Not our review)
2006 Dry Creek Vineyard’s Heritage Zinfandel ($15.99 at the Utah Wine Store, 1605 S. 300 W) -The 2006 vintage of Heritage Zinfandel begins with a deep and inky purple-red color. At first swirl, up front fruit aromas of wild blackberry and plum are evident along with more subtle layers of white pepper and cardamom spice. On the palate, the flavors are rich and concentrated with additional blackberry characters that mingle with chocolate, allspice, and vanilla. The tannins are firm and supple, creating a balanced mouthfeel that seems to linger on and on. This is an elegant, sophisticated, and polished Zinfandel that displays Sonoma County fruit at its very best.
| Grapes | 88% Zinfandel and 12% Petite Sirah |
| Appellation: | Sonoma County |
| Harvest: | September 25 – October 11, 2005 |
| Fermentation: | Fermented 18 days at 85°F; |
| Barrel Aging: | 10 months in American and French oak |
| Alcohol: | 14.5% |
| Total Acidity: | 0.54 |
| pH: | 3.86 |
| Residual Sugar: | 0.10% |
| Aging Potential: | 3 – 5 years |
this just in from goodgrape.com
Best Wine / Winery of the Year
Dry Creek Vineyards. My interest in Dry Creek Vineyards goes back a decade with a visit to their tasting room and a side of mouth whisper from a friend of mine who lived in Healdsburg at the time. “The Chenin Blanc is always a terrific value,” he said. He was right then and he’s still right today.
To me, Dry Creek represents what is good about California wine – medium-sized, family-owned and operated, well-priced with very strong quality and value up and down their wine line-up. It’s a nicely branded winery with history and a back-story as well as national distribution for a segment of their portfolio. In a brutal economic climate like 2009, this is the kind of winery to root for.
In addition to my natural affinity for Dry Creek Vineyard, the best wine I drank this year actually came from Dry Creek, as well. During the first week of January I had the Dry Creek 2004 Endeavor Cabernet Sauvignon. At the time I said I thought it would likely garner a mainstream review in the 93-95 range. Steve Heimoff and Wine Enthusiast gave it a 93, others were slightly lower. But, relative to everything else I drank this year, this wine was tops – earthy, complex, well-structured and not overly extracted in that Napa Cab way. And, at $55, I’d call it a value. Today, the Endeavor represents a wine style that California will evolve toward in the future – a balance between fruit and earth, short-term pleasure versus long-term patience with some overall restraint. The 700+ cases for the ’04 are gone according the Dry Creek web site, though the ’05 was just released.