Bear Flag Red

The label on this wine gives you a good idea of what it's all about - a bit over the top, but fun.  The label says "smoot and juicy" and Kelly says "This wine knows itself."  It's a blend of including tempranillo and zin, and the zin really comes through.  It's a bit too sweet and candied for my taste, but for $13.99 you can't complain.  Not a wine to sip and savour, but would be tasty with a spicy BBQ. 

St Francis Old Vines Zinfandel 2005

Here's a review from Tancred that I've stolen from the 'Make a Suggestion' thread. He didn't give it a value rating in his initial comment, but in a private message he said that for value "I would say 3/5, because it was quite an interesting wine and I think I am suffering from wine-price bracket creep." Hmm. From the description it sounds more like 2/5. Price bracket creep must be fought at all costs. And the Colonial Estate Explorateur is in the same price bracket, and we scored it 85 with 2/5 for value. So as blog-meister, I say the score is 2/5 for this one too.

--- Tancred's review ---

I recently tried the St Francis Old Vines Zinfandel 2005 ($35.78). I'm quite interested in new world grape varieties in new world locations, such as SA Pinotage and California Zin since I know so little about them. The Zinfandel is a genetic clone of a Croatian grape that is also the probable origin of the Primitivo grape in Italy. Unfortunately our liquor store does not stock much at all in the way of dry red Zinfandel, but the St Francis looks to be a recent arrival.

The wine had a great nose - lots of red and dark fruit - cherries, plums, blackberries - that I really enjoyed. The palate was similar although I noted quite a harsh finish that I did not think of as 'grippy tannins'. The harsh finished softened a bit by the second glass but was still detectable. At $36, I would say this wine is not great value for money, though it is certainly a solid enjoyable wine. It makes me wonder what a really good Zin would be like. I'm going to keep looking.

Price: $35.78
Score: 85 first glass - 87 second glass
Value: 2/5
Region: USA, California
Grape: Zinfandel
Tasted: March 2009
UPC: 088534001434

Barefoot Zinfandel- NV

After a few days back in the upper price ranges, here we are with another value wine.

--- Review by Iron Chef ---


This is one of the first Zins that I remember really liking maybe 6 years ago. And for a while I sought out Zins wherever possible. I began to gravitate towards the expressions that were higher and higher in alcohol %, topping out at 16.5% for one of the Montevina Zins. These Port-like monsters hid the subtle qualities of the grape that I really enjoyed and I lost my taste for these wines. In a moment of nostalgia I bought the Barefoot and was happily reminded of the fun nuances of Zinfandel. The colour of the wine was bight cherry red and the nose had dried tobacco leaf- Players Light I think. Also the fruit on the wine was vibrant with some nice tannins. This was not syrupy or heavily extracted- balanced and fresh. Raspberry was the dominant fruit characteristic and there was some peachy flavors also. Very enjoyable.

Retail Price: $11.99
Score: 87
Value: 4/5
Region: California- Lodi
Grape: Zinfandel
Alcohol: 13.5%
UPC: 018341751093

Gnarly Head Old Vine Zinfandel 2006

The characteristic cherry nose marks this as a Zinfandel - Kelly picked it blind right off the bat - but apart from that this California Zin is what you would expect from a fairly generic, inoffensive wine in the $17 price range. Think Rosemount Diamond Label or Penfolds Koonunga Hill. It has a very noticeable sweetness (even though analytically it is dry, with a 00 sugar rating) that no doubt makes the wine easy to drink and broadly appealing. Personally, I find the sweetness to be cloying - I couldn't really drink this wine on its own - but I expect it's fine with a burger. The only problem is that it costs about $5 more than it should for a wine of this style and quality.

Price: $21.99
Value: 2/5
Score: 83
Alcohol: 14.5%
Tasted: Sept 2008
ANBL UPC: 082242294935