2018 Limerick Lane Zinfandel Russian River Valley- USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley (6/8/2020)
Opened and followed over two nights. All the red and purple fruit you expect from the RRV in a concentrated nose. Very soft elegant texture that just explodes with ripe zinberry, mouthwatering acidity and fine grained tannins. Crunchy red fruit lingers on through the long finish. This is the second bottle I’ve popped in the past week and this wine screams for BBQ. Last night Baby Back Ribs and tonight Tri-Tip were perfect matches. Last week with a lesser protein the wine showed some heat but not this bottle. Man if this was $20 every year I’d drink a whole lot more of it. This case will be history before the year is up.
Next up is the Marquis which really intrigues me.
I joined the list but can’t seem to get it at this time. Found that wine.com has it for $43.99, or $29.32 each with one of the coupons. Bought 3 and can’t wait to try one!
I just had a 2017 RRV the other night and it was superb. Their zins just really pop somehow, and I don’t mean in a “because they’re ultraripe / over oaked” kind of way. They just have an extra gear of intensity to the fruit, but the extra gear isn’t sweeter or riper. It’s like when you bite into a perfect piece of fruit, where the firmness and acids are still there, but the flavors are just more intense and more impressive.
The “high definition instead of analog” line is perfect.
Here’s the weird thing. There have been some reports/opinions on here that the wines seem to be less good after a few years. Not bad or ruined or anything, but not as good as their first few years. Maybe that extra sparkle they have kind of wears off.
So I don’t know, and I’m usually an ager of wines, but maybe these are mostly best just to enjoy in their radiant youth.
Totally agree that these wines are a great buy in the $25 to $35 range! Above that and I have a harder time justifying the value compared to the likes of Bedrock, Carlisle, etc.
And I am firmly in the camp that the wines for some reason lose that ‘X-Factor’ after a few years in bottle. I found that out the hard way as I fully expected them to improve with age, but other than the 1023, i have been disappointed with how they’ve developed. To me, they just become less exciting and lose the sparkle that you both referenced above. And similar to Chris, this is coming from someone who likes a little age on their wines. For reference, I dont even think about opening a Bedrock single vineyard until 5+ years after vintage, and ideally longer than that.
And it’s possible they mature from there in the way that a Carlisle or Bedrock would – I’m not sure what the longer term would look like and whether it’s worth waiting for. But I tend to agree, they are such beauties in their youth, it’s probably better to open all or most of them in that window and just enjoy it.
Did anyone on the east coast receive their wine, yet? Mine has been pending with expected departure from Elizabeth New Jersey for a week. I’m sure it’s fine–just curious.
Mine arrived yesterday—gave one the Pobega treatment.
Sometimes Zin is a little angular for me, but to my palate LL wines smooth some of the rough edges while still keeping a great wild berry flavors. The new bottling is wonderful; I might hide a few from myself to see how they age. Otherwise they will disappear quickly.