Martinelli & Turley Zins

My cellar has a lot of Turley and Martinelli Zins from 1997 through 2007. I will start posting tasting notes. Please post you tasting notes as well as ideas for food pairings. I love these big rich wines and would love to find other fans to share them with. Let me know if you would like to attend or help organize a tasting of these wines in the NYC area.

Prepare for the haters!!!

I think it would be cool if you pulled off a dinner and could post pics and side by side tasting notes for comparison. How many bottles are you looking at popping?

You rang?

I sold all my Martinelli long ago. It was the first list I dropped. I drank most of my Turley but stopped buying, for reasons made clear below.

My old guide to Martinelli and Turley was as follows: Each bottle of Martinelli was 50% great wine and 50% cough syrup. 50% of Turley bottles were 100% great wine, and the other 50% were 100% cough syrup. In the late 90’s Martinelli was the worst example of Parkerization I encountered.

There’s ample evidence on WB that Turley changed and is making a lot of really good wine across the board. I’m not sure about Martinelli.

Although I don’t necessarily dispute that statement, somehow the allocation system drove me away before this had quite sunk in.

The OP asked for kindred spirits, not haters. Plenty of other threads to go bash if you don’t like the grape or the producers.

Paul, I am not familiar with Martinelli but do love Turley. Had a 2010 Dusi Vineyard last Friday that was wonderful, balanced, nuanced, and complex. I do prefer to age my Turley for at least 5 years in order to achieve that balance.

Cheers.

Carlos for sure. Beautiful tasting room too.

My experiences are primarily martinelli and not turley so please take below in context as it is only relative to half the question.

I am neither a hater not a supporter, would just say my palate evolved to the point where I tend to direct my wine budget to other places.

My experience in drinking these wines of various ages is that they helped keep the alcohol masked better while younger. Even young they tended to be hot unless consumed at or near cellar temp but the fruit was so huge that it was still a potentially enjoyable experience depending on palate preference (for me, they were usually a nice alternative to a dessert wine).

For the ones I had with more age (a 95 and 98 jackass vineyard, early 00’s Giuseppe and Luisa) was that the heat toned down and the alcohol was more prevalent (sort of like a fortified wine). The fruit however seemed to fade more without a great deal of secondary or tertiary development.

I know separating the concept of heat and alcohol may seem odd but to me they are not synonymous, heat is a sensation to me while alcohol is more of flavor profile to me.

This led me to buy less than I used to because I really only wanted a year or two worth of rotating supply. I felt like they were best at 3-5 years from vintage (i.e. 1-3 years after release). Again, just palate preference. At this point, my buying has been reduced to only an occasional bottle or two that I brig to certain events with family as a dessert-like wine.

Thanks for all of the comments. It is fascinating to get all of the different opinions. To an earlier question, if I can organize a tasting, I would be happy to open as much wine as the group wanted to work through.

I do agree that there is a cough syrup component to these zins – even with that component, I still rally enjoy these wines. I think the less desirable characteristics often fade over time and what is left is a big, voluptuous easy to enjoy wine. Old Bordeaux’s are great, but they are far more complicated and fussy.

I encourage you to try a group of these big zins that are 20 years old. I would love to see peoples notes from such a tasting.

How do people think these big zins age. I have had many of these Martinelli and Turly zins at 20+ years and they can drink very well. The wines loose their over the top fruitiness and can mellow beautifully. I think they are far more food friendly with 10+ years of age. What are your thoughts?

If turley and martinelli teamed up to make cough syrup I would be high as a kite 24/7…

People say that if you take proper care of a cold, it will end within seven days. But if you don’t take proper care if a cold, it could last as long as a week.
If Turley and Martinelli made cough syrup, I think I could easily feign having a cold all year.
Phil Jones

The original “purple drink”

I tasted an '05 Jackass Hill and a '93 Turley Hayne earlier this week at Flights that were sensational. These are not everyday Zins (nor are they priced as such) but represent two of the most unique historic sites and distinctive wines in California.

I had a '13 Turley Frederick’s Zinfandel a few months ago and it was the best zinfandel I’ve had in a while - possibly ever. The freshness and zesty, vivacious mouthfeel were invigorating. I blind tasted my girlfriend on it (who is a Sonoma Valley winemaker and not a particular lover of zinfandel), and she pegged it as a Chateauneuf du Pape which I could definitely see the similarities.

I had a '14 Bedrock Pagani Ranch Heritage last night which was great as well, but also a very ripe wine and lacking the complexity of the Turley. Funny that Bedrock seems to be such a favorite here on WB and Turley and Martinelli get slammed for their ripeness and alcohol levels, but the Bedrock I had was equally (if not more) ripe than the Turley, and not nearly as good.

Paul,

I think these are fun wines to drink, and that they can provide a lot of hedonistic pleasure.

With Martinelli I had more of the “great” or “hate” experiences. Despite a similar style, there were some vintages that I just couldn’t drink because they literally tasted like sweet cough syrup more than wine. However, when they nailed what they were trying to do (which was probably 75% of the time in my opinion), they were unabashed fruit bombs that, for my palate, have a place. Because of that, I stopped buying probably 10 years ago.

With Turley I’ve had some from virtually every vintage since the beginning. I think they shifted styles with the '05/'06/'07 vintages, and swung so far from what they had been (hedonistic fruit bombs) that I was initially put off by them because I would open one for a particular experience that was no longer available. That said, I’ve come to appreciate the newer style, more structured and toned down, but still exuberant Zinfandel (and Petite Sirah–or Petite Syrah as they call it). I don’t buy as many as I used to but still buy some each year.

Enjoy drinking through your stash :slight_smile:

Mike,

Have you tasted any recent vintages of Jackass Hill? I’ve always wanted to pick one up and see what it would be like with some bottle age, the price tag of $95 has definitely given me pause in case it was just a style of Zinfandel I would enjoy. Could you add any perspective/opinion?

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Mike,

Have you tasted any recent vintages of Jackass Hill? I’ve always wanted to pick one up and see what it would be like with some bottle age, the price tag of $95 has definitely given me pause in case it was just a style of Zinfandel I would enjoy. Could you add any perspective/opinion?[/quote]

For clarification, at Martinelli, there is Jackass Hill, $120 (usually about 50-60 cases), and Jackass Vineyard, $95 (usually about 250 cases) and in current release for Spring 16. I have notes going back to September 2009 from the release tastings we do here but it would take a while to compile them. Essentially both of these sites date back to the last dozen years of the 19th century with Vineyard preceding the Hill by 4 - 5 years. All the other single vineyard Zinfandel from the Estate are all grafted from these vines, but they represent some of the oldest vines in Sonoma and the profiles typically offer more evolved red, blue and black fruits with nuances of spice. The sweet spot for our Zins seems to be in the 5 - 9 year range but I have had some at 12 and beyond that were still solid. Many vintages are pretty wound up when we first taste but evolve over the following couple months. Consistently they are the most sought after Zinfandel we make.

In addition to my sig block, I am Director of Sales at Martinelli Winery.

Big Zin fan, but I’ve never tried the Martinelli zins. Is it worthwhile trying to get some from retail or auction? I assume that they are hard to get even for people buying the other Martinelli products.

Years ago, people had an offline at Daisy Mae’s on the west side with zin. No frills BBQ place. I think they ordered a half of a pig. I had a conflict so I couldn’t make it. If someone organizes again, I’m in if I can go with other Cali Zins. I have a boatload of Carlisle, a fair amount of Black Sears and Outpost, and assorted others.

Back in the day the only ones hard to get were the Jackass Hill and the Jackass. I imagine that they are still somewhat difficult, but I actually preferred the Giuseppe & Luisa, and that was fairly easy to procure.