We've been on a high quality-to-price ratio role recently and I'd be remiss not to add this scrumptious wine to the list. Purchased off WineBid.com for a song, I've only been able to keep the corkscrew out of this one for about three months.
Aged zinfandel can be deep, velvety and utterly complex, if considerably less racy and brash than their younger siblings. The wines from Ridge Vineyard's Lytton Estate can age as well as, if not better than, many Rhone Ranger and cabernet based wines, and 1994 seems to have been a particularly good vintage across the board for California.
The 1994 ATP Zinfandel Lytton Estate was dark -- nearly opaque. Soft notes of dried flowers and prunes emanated from the glass. Shy acidity, but soft tannin, allowed the hidden red and purple fruits to surface, reminding me of hand-picking blackberries in eastern Washington.
If you're looking for the type of grab-your-ass sex appeal notable in high-price new vintages of zinfandel (Turley's wines come to mind) this may not be your thing. But there are many notable proponents of the wonders of aged zinfandel, and I now count myself among them.
0 comments:
Post a Comment