Carol Shelton 2008 Monga Zinfandel, $22.46-$24.95, 89 points, has a beautiful ruby red color with cranberry hues.
The nose is complex with sweet floral cedar and hints of candy-cane.
A round mouth-feel carries good acidity and minimal tannin on a medium plus body.
The flavor of bright red-cherry dominate, while the finish is tart, almost green, with little spice and where the alcohol (14.9%) is noticeable.
This Zinfandel was bought at Bella Vino (Now out of business :-(
Index-of-reviewed-wines
Copyright 2012 Dennis Tsiorbas. All rights reserved, Template provided by Blogger
Off topic here...
ReplyDeleteI just now noticed your question about the Barolo and I replied. Wasn't sure if you'd see it. (Bussia)
J
John, your an Italian wine encyclopedia! Amazing!
DeleteI've heard very good things about Carol Shelton's zins. Have you tried any others besides this one, Dennis?
ReplyDeleteNick
Yes, the 2006 Monga and the 2008 Wild Thing (my favorite), both had similar impressions on me.
DeleteNick, my Index of reviewed wines has a link almost at the bottom of each post, and Zinfandel is the first group of wines indexed in alphabetical order (mostly).
Dennis,
ReplyDeleteLooks like your a fellow zin lover!
Nick, I think Zinfandel was the first Red Wine I came to appreciate, but Syrah/Shiraz has supplanted Zin as my favorite wine and Brunello Montalcino (being more consistently of high quality, but the price!) is closing in on that bent. Interesting how our taste evolves! I love spice, and these wines seem to have the combination of spices, flavors, and textures, which corresponds best to my palate; I have to be mindful that other wines, though very good in quality, may not be appropriate to my senses, yet need to be appreciated for what they are, independent of my predilection. For a long time I wouldn't touch a white wine, but inevitably I was to dive-in, and learn that appreciating them was something I was willing to attempt. Wine is so vast, that Italy alone, maybe Chianti alone, could preoccupy some single-minded soul's life-long endeavor. Specialization is the trend in so many areas of human effort and expertise, and I'm unsure if I'm expanding or contracting in that regard.
DeleteIs this too much for a reply?
Dennis,
ReplyDeleteNot too much at all. Not having sampled an abundance of French or Italian wines, I decided early on to try specializing in American wines (not to say I don't still enjoy Euro, Aussie, and NZ wines). Zin is attractive to me because it's good and it's priced so well. I've also found this to be true with Washington Rieslings, well, pretty much anything from Washington, and California Sauv Blancs.
Cheers,
Nick