Looking at the newly-posted photos of the PNW dinner at the Met jogged my often-faulty memory of a wine that had been completely ignored, I think, but certainly shouldn't have been.

I don't the vintage of the Martinelli Zinfandel that we drank, but it was recent. I don't know the cuvee, but it was memorable.

What I do know is that I turned to mountainman, who had been kind enough to bring the Martinellis (and I hope I'm right when I say that there were 2 different bottlings, but I handle correction well ) and told him that I was amazed that the fruit was so powerful in this wine that I couldn't notice the alcohol at all. I further remarked that it must be at least 15%, a lot of alcohol to hide. He told me to read the label.

It was just over 17% ! Can you imagine how pumped up that powerful, muscular, body-builder fruit must have been to wear that alcohol like a Speedo? I've had a couple of Turley Aida Zins that came close, but still showed alcohol heat on the finish. Not that Martinelli.

And on top of all that monster fruit and alcohol, this wine was not out of place among '92 Beringer PR Cab or Century III Cab Franc or any of the other great wines (thanks, ojeffso & co., for bringing samples to us in the back room) that we had.

To me, that Zin was really remarkable. I hope others can fill in the gaps that have clearly emerged for me after 2 months.

I brought 2 bottles of 2000 Martinelli Guiseppe & Luisa zins. It has also been in the TNs recently. Good juice!

Thanks, mountainman. I didn't think to do a search, and would likely not have remembered reading a TN on this wine previously as it's not available here and I never expected to try it.

It certainly turned out to be a memorable wine for me, both as a wine and as part of a special evening.