Big House Beastly Old Vines 2009 Zinfandel, $7.99-$9.99, 84 points, is a deep magenta (crushed elderberry), the aroma is a pungent copy of the 2008 with the addition of alcohol, the light to medium body carries bright black and red cherry flavors that are too over-the-top, and the finish falls short of the 2008.
These Zinfandels are neither a trick nor a treat, but because $7.99 for a Zinfandel that is not too syrupy, nor too offensive, and is yet drinkable, can't be reasonably gainsaid, but neither were they a treat for me.
Index-of-reviewed-wines
Copyright 2011 Dennis Tsiorbas. All rights reserved, Template provided by Blogger
Copyright 2011 Dennis Tsiorbas. All rights reserved, Template provided by Blogger
There was a time when Cardinal Zin was one of my favorites. Now that it's no longer in the Bonny Doon fold, I think that the quality has suffered. Having said that, it's been a while since I've tasted it.
ReplyDeleteJust curious - why the fascination with Halloween wines? Is it just Halloween, or can I look forward to Christmas, Easter, & Memorial Day wines? =P
Hi Claire, last year I met this woman who was buying wines with the Halloween theme for her adult party, and I thought I'd give her a few suggestions from memory; since then I laid plans to try some of those wines and post the results as a "Hoot".
ReplyDeleteWines I may not have tried, Ghost Pines, Bad Boy, Sin Zin, for example, turned-out to be quite good (To me)
As for the Cardinal Zins, you said: "There was a time when Cardinal Zin was one of my favorites. Now that it's no longer in the Bonny Doon fold, I think that the quality has suffered."
I thought I read somewhere that Bonny Doon was sold as well?
Claire, I didn't think that 85 points for the 2008 was a bad score, and maybe some time in the bottle will help, but the "Talking Heads" pretty much agree that "a wine made to be consumed today, usually doesn't get better tomorrow."
Any thoughts on that?
Yes on your last question. Sorry, but what does =P mean? Duh!
=P is the emoticon answer to, oh, I don't know, a sarcastic snicker. Basically, =P means I think I'm being funny.
ReplyDeleteNope, Randall Grahm still owns Bonny Doon. The winery is now higher end & they have a great tasting room in Santa Cruz. I was there about 2 years ago. The wines are quite lovely. They make a fantastic rose', as well as the rest. I believe we still have a bottle of their Nebbiolo hanging around here somewhere. (Note to self: find the bottle, then drink it.)
Well, a score of 85 points on a major scale (WA, WE, WS, Tanzer, Suckling) isn't very impressive. But then, scores don't mean that much to me.
And lastly, I would have to say that an under $10 bottle of wine very likely will NOT get better in the bottle after a couple of years. As always, there are exceptions, I'm sure.