I am a big fan of Red Zinfandel. That ancient grape making its way from Croatia (Tribidrag)and Italy (Primitivo) to California as our Zinfandel.
Here are some of my favorites: (along with the prices from around the NYC area.
Constantino “The Zin” Rich, full bodied ($20ish)
Frank Family “Zinfandel” ($35)
Orin “Prisoner” (a blend) ($35-upish)
Optima Cellars “Dry Creek Zinfandel” ($25)
Bogle “The Phantom” (a blend} $18ish)
Each one of these are big full wines. Alcohol content starting at 13.5%, so they are soft and round, to some almost giving a tasting impression of being
a bit sweet (though it is not). My favorite one is the one from Frank Family… A small vineyard in Napa, but the wine is big time.
I love cooking rack of lamb with these wines. I generally use a less expensive ($10-$12) bottle of Zin, along with garlic, fresh rosemary and the scraping as a result of French cutting the rack to simmer into a delicious almost syrup like mixture.
Any input on those wines or other great Zinfandels?
Carol Shelton. ESP the $20 Wild Thing.
Carlisle, Bedrock & Ridge
Hendry
Dashe Dry Creek Valley as a QPR
Scherrer
Bucklin Old Hill
Bedrock
Biale
Black Sears
Bogle is hard to beat for QPR.
Biale doesn’t get the love that it should IMO.
I would also add Outpost and Ridge.
Ridge, especially with some age.
Carlisle Papera is my favorite, but really hard to come by.
A slightly easier one to find is Bedrock Old Vine. Bedrock Monte Rosso is also excellent.
I also like Epoch Zin, but good luck trying to track that one down.
Rafanelli. Worth dealing with the list only model, and the tariff.
Not a fan of Bogle Phantom. I find the oak way overdone.
My favorites:
Bedrock, Carlisle, Ridge, Ravenswood, Turley, Biale, Easton, Dashe, Bucklin.
All good QPRs, but if you’re looking for something in the Bogle price range, check out a blend from Napa called 10 Mile “The Broken Road” although I should say I haven’t tried this for a few years. It’s really difficult to find good zin nowadays under $15.
+1 One of a kind. I often find it to be “elegant”, which is not a word I would use with any other zin.
I love Zinfandel. Some of my favorites are Scherrer, Carlisle, Turley and Bucklin.
I recently had my first Nalle and thought it was excellent as well, though I need to increase my sample size before I can say it’s one of my favorites.
My favorites are Ridge, Scott Harvey, Bedrock, and the higher-end Seghesio zins.
Been meaning to try Carlisle and Scherrer for a while, just haven’t gotten around to it yet.
I’ll second the Seghesio and Ridge recommendations. A. Rafanelli is a great one, but you’d have to get on the list, and their shipping cost is pretty high.
+1
Just had my first Carlisle last night worth the wait
Scherrer, Ridge and Dashe are my favorites.
Napa Cellars 2010 is surprisingly full and satisfying.