2007 4 Vines Old Vine Cuvee California Zinfandel

In a word: Cankles. The soft, rich, smooth red color spreads over your tongue like dimples on cellulite. Dark and warm with a hint of sparkle. She beckons. Feels like home fries. Behind the glass, her legs are so long. It’s rich without being pretentious. She’s picked blackberries in the hot sun and nuzzled under an oak tree. Her story is yet to be told and landing pad still unknown. Ambitious but knows her place. This Zin feels like a marabou negligee without the feathers. Good thing too, they would only go to my head later. Just wrap those cankles around my neck and….escape. For at least a glass or two.

2007 Four Vines Maverick Zinfandel Amador County – $16

Four Vines Winery is Christian Tietje‘s Zinfandel House – it’s what they do. Sourced from 100 year old vines in the Shenedoah Valley in the Sierra Foothills of Amador County with a little Syrah poured in to smooth things out. About 5,000 cases produced and the alcohol content is 14.9%.

This is a big and bold , crowd pleaser of a Zin. The nose is fragrant, spice and fruit. The flavor is black and blueberry, white pepper and Christmas spice. The finish is a lingering berry and vanilla. The color of the wine is a see-thru ruby red, kind of pretty. The tannins don’t intrude, Zins can be sort of rough, but this is balanced and smooth (for a Zin).

I checked the prices for this Zin on the web and the suggested price is $25 and the net prices are between $20 and $25, I paid $15.99. The one thing good about a bad economy is that there are bargains available if you know where to find them.

2006 Four Vines Old Vines Zinfandel – $12

This is another “follow the wine maker” wine. Christian Tietje (based out of Paso Robles) is something of an outlaw winemaker – he makes wine the way he wants to and does not pay a great deal of attention to tradition, and makes no apologies. He makes wines named Loco, Heretic and the Biker and is known affectionately as the “Zinbitch”.  The Old Vines Cuvee Zinfandel is his entry level red wine and he calls it the “best” deal in red wine.

Zinfandel is the American grape, most varietals come from France, Spain or Italy, but not Zinfandel. Now, I know all about how they traced this grape back to Croatia, but as they say, use it or lose it, and when’s the last time you had a Croatian Zinfandel. So, it’s our grape now, we should be using Zinfandel for making toasts on the 4th of July!

The Four Vines Old Vines Cuvee Zinfandel is sourced from vineyards all over Northern California and was aged in small French and American oak barrels. Alcohol content is listed as 14.6%, and the alcohol and the tannins are well balanced. This is a bit of a throw back Zin, big, bold and spicy. Tastes of jammy black and blue berries upfront with that nice Zin spice cutting right into all that jammy fruit.The finish has nice vanilla notes with some cola flavors. Not a good Zinfandel for the price, but a straight up real solid Zin,period. Should be widely available for around 12 bucks.