2008 Jaffe Estate Transformation

2010 Novy Family Wines Zinfandel Russian River Valley

2009 Syncline Grenache-Carignan

2010 Turley Zinfandel Juvenile

2009 Bedrock Wine Co. Syrah Pleine de Chene Hudson Vineyard North

 

 

 

2008 Jaffe Estate Transformation – $32.00

This wine is a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot from the estate’s St. Helena vineyard.

 

The wine is a deep ruby color.  The inviting nose has blackberries, dark chocolate, crushed stones, black cherries, tobacco, cedar, vanilla, white pepper and dried wild flowers.  This has medium body with moderate to solid tannins and very nice acidity.  On the palate blackberries and crushed stone minerals jump out quickly with spicy cedar and black cherries coming in later.  The finish has very nice length with white pepper and dried flowers adding nice depth and interest.  This is drinking very nicely today with a brief decant but there is no hurry with this one.  The wine has 13.8% alcohol and the bottle is sealed with a natural cork.  (93 pts)

 

 

 

2010 Novy Family Wines Zinfandel Russian River Valley – $18.99

I’ve been a big fan of the Novy/Siduri wines from Adam Lee for several years.  For some reason, their Zinfandels seem to fly under the radar.  Their single vineyard offerings are some of the best values out there, grab one if you happen to see one sitting on a store shelf.

 

Winery history

Our winemaking goal is to produce wines that best capture the distinct flavor and character of a given vineyard site.  To that end, we focus on sites that provide us with exceptional fruit.  We are fanatical in our protection of the vineyard flavor and are determined not to let any overt winemaking components mute the personality of an individual site.

 

In the cellar, we vinifiy each wine separately by block, clone and barrel type in order to maximize the individual components and provide greater complexity to the final blend.  This approach also provides us with much more flexibility in crafting a wine using only the best and most harmonious lots.

 

Given that the majority of our wines are single vineyard offerings, it is critical for us to maintain the site’s individual character in order to provide you with a truly diverse offering of wines.  To that end:

• We believe in minimal intervention, “gentle” winemaking.  In other words, we let the wine make itself.  We do not want to do anything to the wine that isn’t absolutely necessary.
• We believe in bottling our wines unfiltered and unfined whenever possible, convinced as we are that fining and filtering strip wines of flavor and character.
• We believe that the best wines express their origins.  Our goal is not to produce the world’s best Syrah or Zinfandel but rather to produce the very best wine from a given site.

 

My Tasting Note

The wine is a medium ruby red color.  The soothing and inviting nose has brambly berries, black pepper, warm baking spices, licorice, dried herbs, tobacco, dark chocolate and some red raspberries.  This has a fairly full body, moderate to solid tannins, and very good acidity.  Spicy, peppery berries grab the palate initially with dried herbs and dark chocolate coming in on the mid palate.  The finish has decent length highlighted by tart red raspberries.  This has much brighter acidity than your usual California zinfandel, which nicely balances the richness.  With the good tannins and abundant acidity, this should last in the cellar and potentially improve for several years.  The wine has 15.1% alcohol and the bottle is sealed with a twist off cap.  (91 pts)

 

 

 

2009 Syncline Grenache-Carignan

If you’ve been reading my posts for more than just a couple of weeks, you’ll see I love just about all wines.  That said, my heart belongs to the grapes from the Rhone region in France.  I think these are some of the most versatile grapes in the world.  These grapes seem to be able to adapt to where ever they are planted and can produce many different styles of wine.  I found this specific wine when a  friend tweeted he had this in his glass one evening.  I was able to track down a few bottles from a store in Washington.  A few days later, they were in my cellar.

 

This is a 50/50 blend of Grenache and Carignan from the Columbia Valley in Washington.  I’ve had a couple bottles of this wine last year, but felt it would be better with a bit of cellar time.  I guess it’s time to check in to see how it’s going.  As an added bonus, the wine is closed with a glass stopper.  In my opinion the best stopper for wines that will be consumed in three to eight years.  I need to see some research before I can extend the top end of that range.  I think these stoppers are a bit too costly to use on wines meant to be consumed not long after release.

 

The wine has 14.2% alcohol and the bottle is sealed with a glass stopper.  There were 385 cases produced.

 

My Tasting Note

The wine is a shade lighter than a medium ruby red color.  The bright and cheerful nose has raspberries, cherries, minerals, baking spices, licorice, wild flowers, and just a touch of underbrush.  This has medium body, moderate to solid tannins and very good acidity. The palate has nice red fruits, spice, and some earthiness with no rough edges. The finish has decent length and again features the red fruit, spice, minerals and a touch of earthiness.  This is drinking very nicely and should remain in a good drinking window for at least another year or two.  (91 pts)

 

 

 

2010 Turley Zinfandel Juvenile – $20.00

The Turley Juvenile Zinfandel is made of young grapes from the old vine vineyards used in the winery’s single vineyard wines.  The winery doesn’t give a definitive age of the younger vines but they do note that a vine can have several years of age and be considered to be young beside 100+ year old vines.

 

The wine has 15.5% alcohol by volume and the bottle is sealed with a natural cork.

 

My Tasting Note

The wine is a deep ruby red color.  The comfortable and familiar nose has brambly berries, black pepper, licorice, wood smoke, black cherries and some baking spice.  This has a full body with moderate ripe tannins and good acidity.  On the palate the spicy, peppery berries lead the way with a bit of smoke and licorice coming in on the back end.  The finish has good length with a touch of spicy oak peeking through.  This doesn’t have a lot of complexity but it is very tasty.  (90 pts)

 

 

 

2009 Bedrock Wine Co. Syrah Pleine de Chene Hudson Vineyard North – $39.00

This 100% Syrah is fermented using native yeasts in new French oak puncheons.  The wine is then moved into new French oak barrels for aging.  The wine is a deep maroon color.  The sexy nose is full of crushed blackberries, smoked meat, dead wood embers, crushed stones, dried violets, vanilla beans, road tar and blueberries.  This has medium to full body with moderate tannins and nice acidity.  Blackberries, crushed stones and smoked meat quickly coat your palate slowly allowing wood embers and some road tar to slip through.  The long luxurious finish adds a nice dried violet note.  This wine is fully open and ready to shine over the next few years.   This has 15.1% alcohol and the bottle is sealed with a natural cork.  (93 pts)

 

 

 

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Notes – I use the “official” Cellar Tracker name for the wines.  I use Cellar Tracker to help manage and organize my cellar.  I highly recommend checking it out at www.cellartracker.com.  Loading you existing cellar is a lot less intimidating than it would first appear.  There is a good chance 99% of your wine is already in the system, so you generally only need to enter part of the wine’s name and the system will find it for you.

 

 

Prices noted are the prices I paid at the time of purchase.  I don’t shop around to find the best prices, but always check out the sale and close out items when in a store.  Wines purchased direct from a winery do not include any shipping charges.  None of the prices include the sales tax.

 

 

All wines that were sent to me free of charge to sample will be noted and I will show suggested prices when available.

 

 

 

Cheers!