Tasting notes

At its best, Zinfandel is a great expression of California. It’s brawny and brazen. It does not apologize for being rich. Zin is a wine with sex appeal, and asserts it with confidence rather than waiting coquettishly for you to discover its charm. A recent single-blind tasting of California Zinfandels was a welcome reminder of this wine’s classic profile: ripe, often blueish fruit flavors; warming, sweetish baking spices; and, when it’s good, always a healthy heap of earth. Great Zin also has an unrelenting freshness to it, sometimes conveyed through herb flavors, other times through sheer juiciness of fruit. The grape justifies its intoxicating opulence with serious structure and food-friendliness by its ability to deliver simultaneously high alcohol levels and high acidity.

Easton Zinfandel Amador County 2013 ($20, 14.5%): The introductory (lowest-priced) wine in Bill Easton’s portfolio of Amador Zins is luxurious and full, with a tight core of juicy blueberry framed by firm, grippy tannins. From vineyards around Amador ranging in age from 15 to 80. An extraordinary value for the price, it still has several years of life ahead. Limerick Lane Estate Zinfandel Russian River Valley 2013 ($36, 14.6%): Planted in 1910, the Limerick Lane Vineyard is planted mostly to Zinfandel, interplanted with grapes including Negrette and Peloursin. Brothers Jake and Scot Bilbro make several block-specific cuvees, but the Estate bottling showcases the vineyard as a whole. It’s a voluptuous, sexy, berry-forward wine, but with a savory, gamey edge, its brawny tannins yielding to a floral, rosy note at the end. Carlisle Zinfandel Carlisle Vineyard Russian River Valley 2013 ($47, 15.3%): From Mike Officer’s estate vineyard, this wine is 87% Zinfandel, with the balance 39 other red and white grapes, including Trousseau and Malvasia. The fruit flavors here are bright rather than brooding, led by cranberry and blood orange. Rustic tannins, terra cotta and warm spices cloak the palate. A wine that embraces you. Novy Zinfandel Papera Ranch Russian River Valley 2013 ($34, 15.8%): The Papera Ranch vineyard was planted in 1934, the year after Prohibition’s repeal. This interpretation from Adam and Dianna Lee, who also make the Siduri wines, shows Sonoma Zinfandel’s finessed side. It’s extremely aromatic, wafting lavender and herbs, moving to red berries and red meat on the palate. For its notinconsiderable alcohol and structure, it remains light on its feet. Scherrer “Old & Mature Vines” Zinfandel Scherrer Vineyard Alexander Valley 2013 ($36, 14.5%): Fred Scherrer tends vines that his grandfather planted in 1912, which in 2013 produced a powerful wine full of sweet, alluring flavors. Cream soda, black cherry and raspberry jam are met by tobacco and licorice, held together by a round texture and silky tannins.