Old Vine Zinfandels That Are Bargains

[Andrew D]

Our latest controlled tasting was of Old Vine Zinfandels. The least expensive of them cost $4.99; the most expensive, $19.99. In the below-$20.00 price range, the price-to-value ratio varies widely. So it should come as no surprise that the $4.99 wine was not the worst (in fact, we ranked it quite highly), and the $19.99 wine was not the best.

DNA has identified Zinfandel with a Croatian varietal known as Tribidrag, which is evidently the source of the Italian varietal known as Primitivo. Nonetheless, Zinfandel really is California’s varietal.

There are no official rules for what constitutes “old vine”. The general consensus is that “old vines” should be at least 50 years old, but there are producers who label their wines “old vine” even though the vines are not 50 years old. Personally, I think that labeling a wine “old vine” if the vines are not at least 40 years old is dishonest.

Some people distinguish “old vines” from “ancient vines,” the latter being at least 80 years old. The Grandpere Vineyard in Amador County is generally regarded as having the oldest Zinfandel vines in California, and quite likely in the world. Its age is often given with a planting date of 1869. Actually, though, the oldest record of it is from 1869, and that record describes it as a producing vineyard, so it must be at least somewhat – and perhaps a great deal – older than 144 years.

We do not award points to wines. Instead, we taste them again and again, gradually zooming in on the best ones. Occasionally, we also identify the worst wines – the wines that come in last in fight after flight.

We first tasted all of the wines to get initial impressions. We then divided them by Appellation of Origin: California, Amador, Lodi, and Sonoma. We tasted the wines in each Appellation of Origin in several flights so that we compared each wine with every other wine in the same Appellation of Origin.

In the California division, the wines ranged in price from $4.99 to $12.98. We were somewhat surprised by the results. Not because the best wine cost $7.49, but because the same wine came in best in flight after flight after flight. That wine is OZV (Old Zin Vines) 2009 “Old Vine” Zinfandel. It is not a powerful wine (and we love powerful wines), but as a medium-full-bodied wine with a nice aftertaste, it is just plain tasty.

The next three wines were so closely ranked that they all came in second. Those wines are Ravenswood 2010 “Vintners Blend” “Old Vine” California $12.98, The Mixer 2011 “Old Vine” California $4.99, and Twisted 2011 “Old Vine” California $5.99.

Amador Zins are notoriously strong – not wines for those who find Merlot bordering on the too-intense. They are also our favorite Zins. (We fell in love with them decades ago when, on a lark, we visited an Amador winery in the off season. The tasting room manager, once he realized that we knew our stuff when it comes to wine, poured many wines for us that were not on the tasting list. And then he took us around for some barrel tastings. He ended up needing a hand truck to get all of the wines we bought out to our car.)

The Amador division was the easiest for us. The same two wines came in first and second over and over. The first-place wine is Renwood 2009 “Old Vine” Amador County $12.98, and the second-place wine is Fiddletown Cellars 2010 “Old Vine” Amador County $16.99. Highly honorable mentions go to Sobon Estate 2010 “Old Vines” Amador County $11.99 and Terra d’Oro 2010 “125 Year Old Vines” Deaver Vineyard, Amador County $19.99.

Sonoma Zins tend to be less strong than Amador Zins. As a general matter, we hate wine-speak, but after some musing, the best way we found to describe the comparison is that the Sonoma Zins are less rambunctiously Zin than are the Amadors. They are very tasty, but they do not scream ZINFANDEL in the way that the Amador Zins do.

We had so much trouble ranking the top two Sonoma Zins that we abandoned the attempt. The two best are St. Francis 2009 “Old Vines” Sonoma County $13.99 and Sausal 2008 “50 Year Old Vines” Alexander Valley $17.99. Also tied, though for next place, are Ravenswood 2009 “Old Vine” Sonoma County $11.99 and Dry Creek Vineyard 2010 “Heritage” Sonoma County $13.29.

The Lodi division included more wines than did any of the other divisions. This may be due partly to our proximity to Lodi, but we think that the principal reason is that Lodi is up-and-coming appellation. For a long time, the wine produced in Lodi went primarily into jug wines (Gallo Hearty Burgundy and the like). It is only relatively recently that Lodi has come into its own, so more of its wines fall into the under-$20.00 price range.

The highest-ranked of the Lodi wines is Campus Oaks (Gnekow Family) 2010 Lodi $10.99. As is the case with the California division, the next three wines were so closely ranked that they all came in second. Those wines are Ironstone 2011 “Old Vine” Lodi $5.99, Predator 2010 “Old Vine” $11.99, and Zynthesis 2011 “Old Vine” Lodi $14.99.

Overall, we ranked sixteen wines very highly (in the under-$20.00 price range). Of those, we got four for less than $10.00 each: Ironstone 2011 “Old Vine” Lodi $5.99, The Mixer 2011 “Old Vine” California $4.99, OZV (Old Zin Vines) 2009 “Old Vine” California $7.49, and Twisted 2011 “Old Vine” California $5.99.

As always, our opinions are exactly that – ours.

Happy drinking!

[Daisy]

Not much good Zinfandel makes it over here, you lot keep it for yourselves!!

But Cookie and I really enjoy the Ravenswood Lodi Old Vine Zin. It's pretty reasonably priced, and is a proper good "mouth-filling" deep red wine.

Yummy - I might get a couple of bottles for Cookie's return this weekend.

[Sue U]

The Ravenswood and Ironstone are the only two on your list that I see regularly around here (Ravenswood being our go-to when in need of a zin); I'll be sure to look for the others. However, my local shop just started carrying a bunch of new Cotes du Rhones that I need to explore.

[oldr_n_wsr]

Boones farmand cold duck were my "wines".

[Joe Guy]

Ripple was an excellent wine to accompany regurgitation in the 70's. It was a wine with no peers with a fine bouquet of effervescent fluide di stomache that lingered for days.

It had a screw cap before they became acceptable to wine snobs. A wine truly ahead of its time.

[Gob]

Ahead they may have been, but who invented the Goon Bag.

Looks like Aus is getting into Zinfadel, though I don't have a sufficiently discerning palate to comment on the quality.

[Sean]

[dales]

Local El Cerrito band makes good.

Wine?

No thanks, I'll tough it out.

[Andrew D]

The Ravenswood and Ironstone are the only two on your list that I see regularly around here (Ravenswood being our go-to when in need of a zin); I'll be sure to look for the others. However, my local shop just started carrying a bunch of new Cotes du Rhones that I need to explore.

Based on your earlier recommendation, we recently tried several Cotes du Rhone. I stupidly failed to write down our responses, but the one that sticks in my mind is Guigal. Yummy! Thanks.

[Scooter]

The wine my parents always made, and which I continue to make, is primarily Zinfandel with small amounts of other varieties added, and from my admittedly biased point of view it produces as good a wine as any I have tasted.

[Long Run]

he Amador division was the easiest for us. The same two wines came in first and second over and over. The first-place wine is Renwood 2009 “Old Vine” Amador County $12.98,

I've enjoyed the Renwood for the last several years (the winery is just a few miles from my mom's place). I recently picked it up at Safeway for under $10 with their 30% off sale going on.

In the California division, * * * because the same wine came in best in flight after flight after flight. That wine is OZV (Old Zin Vines) 2009 “Old Vine” Zinfandel. It is not a powerful wine (and we love powerful wines), but as a medium-full-bodied wine with a nice aftertaste, it is just plain tasty.

I tried the Old Zin Vines 2009 "Old Vine" at a blind tasting for $10 and under wines and it was okay but didn't make my list of bottles I'd seek out for purchase. Higher up on my list that day were the Hahn 2010 Syrah (and their GSM has done well in the past) and the Concannon Crimson & Clover 2010 blend.

I do like the manner in which you do your tasting, rather than taking a sip or two, rate the wine, clean the taste buds, and then onto the next one. Revisiting wines can give a better overall sense of where it stands vis a vis other wines.

[Sue U]

The Ravenswood and Ironstone are the only two on your list that I see regularly around here (Ravenswood being our go-to when in need of a zin); I'll be sure to look for the others. However, my local shop just started carrying a bunch of new Cotes du Rhones that I need to explore.

Based on your earlier recommendation, we recently tried several Cotes du Rhone. I stupidly failed to write down our responses, but the one that sticks in my mind is Guigal. Yummy! Thanks.

Guigal is a big producer of a variety of Rhones that are consistently good year to year and across appellations. (I have read that they do not operate their own vineyards but instead buy from the top regional growers to ensure quality.)

Here is the listing of Rhone wines currently being stocked at my regular shop. I think the Vieux Clocher Vacqueyras and Gigondas are both excellent. Also, at $17.99 the Domaine Grand Prieur Vac is a steal. For everyday (economy) dinner drinking, I am very partial to the Ortas Rasteau Viguiers, the Domaine de la Presidente, the Chateau de Nages and the Perrin Reserve. Also regularly in the mix are Chateau L'Ermitage (Costieres de Nimes) and the Domaine Clairfont.