I buy a lot of zin and we use it as a cellar defender to age our Cabs and other varietals we want more age on. I have a nice supply of zin in the 4-6 year age range so I can pull them at what I feel is a more optimal drinking age. Some of them we hold back to age longer.
My list of annual buys
Rafanelli
Carlisle, usually 2+ cases
Bedrock, usually 2+ cases
Turley - I’ve been ramping down my buying here but usually 1-2 cases a year.
Outpost Howell Mountain Zin. My wife loves this wine so I buy several bottles annually.
So glad someone mentioned this. The one Zinfandel I generally buy every year is the Hobo Branham Vineyard from Rockpile in Sonoma County. It’s a very cool site and the wine is always in the 12.8 - 13.5 range in vintages I’ve seen.
I also like the regular Sonoma County bottling. Others in that style that I’ve liked are the Broc Vine Starr and Briceland Ishi Pishi Ranch.
I’ve bought a few Bedrock Heritage wines because I’ve liked some bottles from friends and like the project. I’d also second Scherrer OMV and Dashe. I don’t buy Ridge wines anymore and I’m not sure why because they remain excellent. I guess I just had so many during my formative years.
We don’t drink much zinfandel because I guess we drink Italian wines in most cases where zinfandel would flourish.
Some really great advice on here, much appreciated!
Looking like I definitely need to pull back on Turley, add some Bedrock and Carlisle, and possibly some others.
And yeah, price or Napa Cabs have definitely been squeezing me out a bit, so Zin provides that more affordable option. Still splurge on the age-worthy Napa cabs though, just not at a high rate. It’s nice to have those bottles available that don’t need as much cellar time.
A mixed case of Scherrer on futures each year runs me $340 all in and is about as much Zin as I drink. I can pick up 20 bottles of 2016 Beringer Knights Valley Reserve with the balance which Id drink far more of. If you havent had it, Id seek it out. Great value
I think Lodi offers some very interesting Zin’s for the price. Yes, the reputation for big is still there, but there are a lot of newer producers that are making some leaner and more traditional Zins. Alquimista Cellars Zin is a magic little leaner standout. From the Jesse’s Grove Vineyard, which might be the oldest Zin plantings in Lodi. R Caporoso has a good article about the major Lodi Zin producers and their styles in this article:
I’ve bought from all of the major producers. People talk about the OV blends, but the single vineyards are my favorites. With Turley,
I never thought Hayne was worth it at $75. Uebroth was my favorite. You can’t beat the Carlisle single vineyards, especially at the pre-release price. You can get them for ~$40. Bedrock is a bit more, but I don’t have enough experience to say whether or not they’re worth it. I’d probably put the $1000 all into Carlisle Papera.
That’s actually a really good point. I do likewise in bigger mixed crowd functions, say like family Thanksgiving. The Bedrock OV and Ridge Geyserville are huge crowd pleasers. These seem to scratch the itch for both the modernists and the classicists. I also add in Chateauneuf du Pape, like some Pegau. Also has that fun peppery and rich fruit showcase, pairs so well with so many things.
If it’s just for personal consumption (no allowance for parties or gatherings), I’d spend $700 on Bedrock (mix of Bedrock, Monte Rosso, Old Hill, Pagani) and a $300 case of Scherrer OMV.
Carlisle, Bedrock, A. Rafanelli–they are usually 1 case purchases each per year. Might be a little over 1k, but I really like the producers, and all of the wines can age well (5+ years). So I feel safe getting vineyards that I like (Papera, Pagani, Bedrock, Carlisle, etc.), especially in good vintages like 2016, 2018. With that said, I have been impressed with what these producers made in a challenging vintage like 2017 (especially for fires, and climate/rain for zin).
Almost all of my purchases are from Bedrock and Carlisle. Each usually has two releases a year. I usually buy a case each time. That’s four cases. And I have to work pretty hard to keep my purchases down to one case each release. And I have to work pretty hard to keep up with drinking that much. But the result is close to $2,000 per year. Good wine, good people, etc.
Phil Jones
I’m currently in Lodi and I tasted at St Amant and Fields Family the other day. I would recommend anyone who is a fan of not over the top Zins to check them out. They both make balanced wines not typical of the area. St Amant’s Marian’s vineyard is legit and Fields Family makes a zin from Kirchenman vineyard that super good too.
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