Just one data point, I opened a 2001 Joseph Swan Stellwagen last week, and it was really good. A bit more stern and complex, less fruit-centric (though I say that not having had this wine when it was young for comparison), it drank really well and held up well over a long evening. A really cerebral wine.
The 2003 Swan Trenton Estate Pinot was better, though. Boy was that singing. One of the very best California pinots I’ve had in the last year, and I drink a lot of very good California pinots.
Ha! I hear you buddy…and I’m not even Cuban 
Yep, not shocking that it wasn’t shining. Juvenile, while a great wine, is the early drinker from their lineup. Not to mention it was a 2003 vintage.
Plus, IMHO the older Turleys (other than maybe the PS) were not really made in a style that was meant to be aged. The newer wines under Teagan are much more balanced with more acidity, so I assume that they will do well with time in bottle.
Somehow I think I missed that thread Wes! Sounds like a helluva tasting! What did you pop from 35??
I think one issue with a lot of zins is that they aren’t particularly tannic and tend to be low acid, so they don’t have the structure to develop over the very long haul. Also, the high alcohol ones can go out of balance as their primary fruit fades. I’ve had some ~2000 Turleys a few years back that were nearly undrinkable for my palate – nothing but alcohol burn.
I haven’t had any very mature Bedrocks, but they generally have very good structure, so I’ll bet they’ll survive like Ridge’s.
Personally, I like the Ridge zins young when there’s lots of berry fruit. As they go more mellow and claret-like, they’re less distinctive to me. But that’s just my taste.
A lot of zinfandels aren’t just zin.
-Al
I think people are largely overstating the wines turning in Clarets. They do do that but so do most all wines. Some just do it faster than others. Ones made from better vineyards, with more traditional methods do it slower than others. That goes for Zin or any other grape. Mostly. The biggest caveat here is likely the best aging “Zins” are those that are field blends with things like Carignan, Mouvedre, Petit Sirah, Alicante Bouschet and other more structured grapes within.
If you are looking at buying old wines in order to see what has aged, I encourage you to try far and wide. I’ve been often surprised at how well these wines age given traditional methods. I had a '72 or '73 Sutter Home that was doing fantastically some years back. And many others from all decades that are aging much better than many would have you believe they would.
Certainly most bottles from Ridge are good bets. But not all of their bottlings simply due to them sourcing from lots of places. Many of those just were not good from aging from the get go. Lytton Springs used to make their own wines alongside selling to Ridge. Their wines have a very slow aging curve.
In my experience you can’t go wrong with aging Scherrer.
I purchased two cases from the Ravenswood library offer last year. The thing that truly stuns me is that the regular Sonoma appellation Zin from 1985 was stunning. I always felt the old hill, Dickerson and other single vineyards would be good at aging. But, regular bottling? Wow.
Williams Selyem has produced some great zins that age well- just hard to get and relatively expensive. I would think well stored Seghesio single vineyard zins could be nice. Have enjoyed many older Ridge zins. It seems like the great older Zin vineyards are mostly capable of aging if winemaking and storage are good.
After receiving the Ravenswood library wines, my perception of what’s possible has totally changed.
Here was a note I wrote about a 1992 Williams Selyem RRV zinfandel, back in 2013. Amazing wine, I’ll never forget it.
I’ve decided either to closely monitor what Zins I cellar, in the case meaning drinking them within about 5 years of purchase, or not buy any to cellar at all. I’ve found some fairly poor corks recently and other oddities; volatile acidity, etc. I haven’t found anything that’s really profound with age. Could it be my cellar? Sure, it’s a modest, passive cellar. Yet I’ve had almost no issues with Burgundy, Beaujolais, and even Finger Lakes (NY) reds and whites even at 10+ years old.
based on my experiences, which consists almost entirely of wines from the Ravenswood library, I would imagine that the intention in their creation and their storage will play a HUGE role in the hit rate. My hit rate with Ravenswoods have been 6/7 so far, which is really high considering their average age was about 30. Ridge and swan have a similar intention. I think the intention at that time 30-40 years ago in California explains why these wines feel so claret-like now, and I dont mind that at all. I imagine the wines Ridge is still making, and the ones bedrock and once and future are making now, will age just as gracefully as the ravenswoods have.
I have had positive experiences with Ridge Geyserville and Lytton Springs up to 20 years from vintage and Carlisle’s 10-12 years from vintage. Like many have said they loose fruitiness and develop an elegance that I like.
The '35 was Simi. (We’ve also had the '35 Simi Cab on a different occasion. Both good.)
So awesome! I picked up a 35 Simi cab that I can’t wait to drink at some point!
Producers? Comments about corks and other problems don’t say much. It’s not like Zinfandel is the only grape where corks are used.
It’s also a Connecticut shade thing.
Old grenache doesn’t go claret-like. Nor does pinot, nebbiolo, sangiovese or tempranillo.
+1
BTW, the 2013 and 2014 Sky Zins that Rich Brown and I have been drooling over, and keep buying more, honestly need more time. These are agers.
Agree on those and thought to mention them but didn’t because they aren’t really “old” and I haven’t had older examples.
-Al