I have always liked this wine as a standby. And this vintage was pretty great. I thought it had nice aroma and fruit, and definitely a nice price point Didn't this get into to the Spectator's top ten this year?

I had some this past weekend. It is certainly a nice wine but possibly scored a little high – not that I pay much attention to numerical scores. I really liked that there was a good bit of fruit evident without actually being a "fruit bomb." Also, the oak is there but it is nicely integrated and not over-the-top. For some reason I expected a flabby wine but was pleasantly surprised with the acidity. This was the first Zin that I have had in quite some time and if this is indicative that the trend in California Zins is getting away from the Turley & Rosenblum model of winemaking I may revisit these wines. However, Zin is not a wine that I am willing to pay a lot of money for when there are really nice Spanish and Rhone reds available at good price points.

quote:

Originally posted by Altaholic:
...This was the first Zin that I have had in quite some time and if this is indicative that the trend in California Zins is getting away from the Turley & Rosenblum model of winemaking I may revisit these wines...

funny, my initial thoughts were this reminded me of some Rosenblum Zins from earlier in the decade

Had this last night and really enjoyed it. I think I finally understand the fuss about Zinfandel.

G

quote:

Originally posted by thirsty man:

I think I finally understand the fuss about Zinfandel.

G

Well, that comment might cause me to buy a bottle.

I have not had a Zin I enjoyed in over 10 years.

for $20 bucks its worth a flyer. It was not jammy and hard/hot like most of the other Zins that I had tried before. This was smooth, fruity - but not grapey or jammy with a little peppery finish. nice - especially for the money.

G

quote:

Originally posted by thirsty man:
...It was not jammy and hard/hot like most of the other Zins that I had tried before. This was smooth, fruity - but not grapey or jammy with a little peppery finish...

ever had any Zins from Tobin James? im kinda like you re: Zin profiles, im also hesitant with certain Shiraz because i see a similar profile... id recommend some Zins from Tobin James to try if you want to expand your experience a little, the 06' "Ballistic" on the shelves now, i think is a nice bottle... "James Gang Reserve" is also nice, but around $30, you start getting into Ridge territory there in my opinion

2007 Seghesio Family Vineyards Zinfandel Sonoma County - USA, California, Sonoma County (12/22/2008)

Purchased at a wine shop on Kauai for $24 and took it to dinner with Haggis and his wife. Not a bad price for Hawaii. This was WS's #10 wine of the year in 2008 and got 93 points. I thought this was a very good bottle and an excellent value. Purple red color. Spicy fruit with notes of currant and pepper in this medium to full bodied wine. Firm tannins and some decanting helps. We decanted it for about an hour before we went to dinner. 90 points.

VM

Vino Me - Did you use a hotel ice bucket for decanting?

I had this wine a couple of weeks ago and it showed much better on the second night.

Had this over three nights even though I stored it in the fridge. Still had plenty of backbone.

2007 Seghesio Zinfancel Sonoma County
$22 Ohio. After all the hype over this one (WS#3, 93 points) I thought I would try a bottle. We buy this every year but it did seem to come out a bit early this year. Purple/ruby in color, mostly opaque and bright. Popped and poured, the nose has a lot of alcohol fumes. Also raspberries and bramble and a bit of cherry/anise cough syrup. Full bodied. On the palate, this is a bit out of whack with the alcohol coming to the forefront. Plenty of raspberry/cherry cough syrup fruit too. After a couple of hours, this smoothed out almost all of the way. Still noticeable alcohol. If you are inclined to buy this, put it away for a year and it should be a fine bottle. If you live in the free world, you can probably find it for $5 bucks less. Myself, if I see it in six months I will revisit it, but at the Ohio price, I am not stocking up. 50+4+12+16+6=88

quote:

Originally posted by Miles of Lief:
Vino Me - Did you use a hotel ice bucket for decanting?

Actually, we used a coffee carafe as a decanter! Well-cleaned of course, although those light mocha notes....

I agree with VM's notes. Ted Seghesio seems to have been turning up the heat on the Sonoma zin, but the '07 did not seem as hot as previous vintages. It could have used more air, but was drinking quite nicely. This is a nice value for drinking now, but is also one to put away for 3-5yrs.

With all the hype and a variety of notes I've read (some loving this, some finding it ok, and others marginal), I pulled the trigger at $40 on a winelist in San Francisco tonight. I must say, I thought I'd find it underwhelming, but it was quite good. At least this bottle was. Dark ruby/purple in color. Full, round, and soft on the midpalate. Nice notes of blueberry, blackberry, dark red florals, toasty oak, black pepper, and a long finish with smooth sanding tannins. This is somewhat simple and foursquare, and not very ageworthy, but it concealed the alcohol well, and offered a complete package from start to finish. I enjoyed it and it went quite well with my braised lamb shank. 91 pts.

I accidentally started a new TN thread on this so I thought I would copy and paste my notes from that thread into this one since this was first and has generatd a robust dialogue.

2007 Seghesio Family Vineyards Zinfandel Sonoma County - USA, California, Sonoma County (12/13/2008)
I agree with many others that this needs time in the decanter before it really starts to show its stuff. I opened and poured into the decanter and let it open up for about an hour. Poured the first glass and I was not all that impressed. I nosed it, tasted it and I remained uninspired. It had some good foundation but it just wasn't well integrated or full of that normally robust fruit that great Zins are so well known for. The next night...well entirely different story. I am combining my notes from the two nights to give a complete picture. On the pour and in the glass it was a medium blood red in color with pronounced legs on the swirl. The nose was powerful with dark berries, black cherry and jam with a touch of oak. On the palate it was a full bodied beauty the second night with powerful jolts of blackberry, currant, a nice jaminess and some of that signature Sonoma Zin briar patch (yes I have tasted a briar...on purpose). It had a nice medium to long finish (no Zin is as long as the Martinelli JA Vineyard so I am a bit skiddish about calling any Zin long on the finish compared to that) of dark berries/cherries, jam and black pepper. The second night this was a well balanced and moderately complex Zin. It is SO clear this needs some more time in the bottle or a good 12 hour decant before drinking. I like this a lot and for the price it is a reasonable Zin to have on hand for frequent drinking. If one evaluates this immediately after opening or within the first few hours of opening they will be disappointed. Let this beauty lay down for a year or two or give it a good healthy decant and you won't be disappointed. I would personally recommend just giving it a good healthy decant because the price and quality don't really make me want to lay it down. I see exactly why this was WS#10 for 2008. (93 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

We had a bottle of this over the Xmas holidays and I'll add my voice to those who think it's an excellent QPR. Not overly jammy nor does it have the excessive alcohol heat some zins have these days. Well worth the $19 I paid.

mghomula...

Interesting that you felt it needed so much air time. I would say it's pretty rare when a high octane Zin. from a ripe year truly "needs" air time. Not that it will hurt.

Last night, our bottle tasted just fine right out of the starting gates, and didn't really change much over the 3 hours we sipped it. We finished our bottle and the waitor ended up topping off our glasses with a bottle that had been opened at the bar earlier in the evening (this was a wine by the glass item as well), and I didn't see any difference there either. The alchohol was well concealed, there wasn't any sufficient or obtrusive tannin to speak of, and and the wine wasn't shut down.

I'm not discounting your findings, but I would find it more trouble than it's worth to open this wine at 6 in the morning, and decant it the day of a dinner party, supposing that it will show markedly better that way. Just me...

quote:

Originally posted by dr.darkrichandbold:
mghomula...

Interesting that you felt it needed so much air time. I would say it's pretty rare when a high octane Zin. from a ripe year truly "needs" air time. Not that it will hurt.

Last night, our bottle tasted just fine right out of the starting gates, and didn't really change much over the 3 hours we sipped it. We finished our bottle and the waitor ended up topping off our glasses with a bottle that had been opened at the bar earlier in the evening (this was a wine by the glass item as well), and I didn't see any difference there either. The alchohol was well concealed, there wasn't any sufficient or obtrusive tannin to speak of, and and the wine wasn't shut down.

I'm not discounting your findings, but I would find it more trouble than it's worth to open this wine at 6 in the morning, and decant it the day of a dinner party, supposing that it will show markedly better that way. Just me...

I agree with you in many respects here Dr. My experience with this wine could be an aberration attributable to bottle variation in a 68,000 case production. My wife and I drink alot of Zin and my experience is the same as yours and I was surprised to find this so locked down and unyielding right out of the bottle.

Specifically the Martinelli JA Vineyard Zinfandel needs little to no air time and is just magnificent. The JAV case production is significantly less than this Seghesio and the JAV is significantly more focused and of higher quality (in my humble opinion of course).

I am not planning to open another of the Seghesio Zin's for a while and I will be interested to see how she handles next time out.

mghomula....

I think you hit it on the head with the 68,000 case production. There is bound to be bottle variation.

Cheers!

quote:

Originally posted by dr.darkrichandbold:
With all the hype and a variety of notes I've read (some loving this, some finding it ok, and others marginal), I pulled the trigger at $40 on a winelist in San Francisco tonight. I must say, I thought I'd find it underwhelming, but it was quite good. At least this bottle was. Dark ruby/purple in color. Full, round, and soft on the midpalate. Nice notes of blueberry, blackberry, dark red florals, toasty oak, black pepper, and a long finish with smooth sanding tannins. This is somewhat simple and foursquare, and not very ageworthy, but it concealed the alcohol well, and offered a complete package from start to finish. I enjoyed it and it went quite well with my braised lamb shank. 91 pts.

Enjoying this right now and pretty much agree with the above note, popped and poured and its open and ready. Its not like some Zin's from Seghesio that have a more dominant oak flavor that dissolves somewhat over time. I think it will hold up for a few years but why wait? A nice food friendly wine and well worth the 17$ I paid.

I had purchased the 2006, thinking it was the 07'. Not having had many zins in the past, I really liked the 06. After hearing that the 07 is better, I am really excited to try it. Do you think letting it sit for a year or two will help it, or is it a drink now wine?

With air both the '06 and '07 are fine to open now. Both will be good for several years to come. You can't lose. imho

I've never really aged any several years. With the exception of the 2005 (which did require some time or 24 hours of air) (I think it was the 2005), they've all been so pleasurable on release that I drank them up by the time the next vintage or so came out. I particularly loved the 2002, and that was perhaps a bit better with age, but not so much that I'd avoid opening them.

I would let it sit a year from release, or ruffly next summer, or decant for a while. Notably, I prefer to let most zins sit for a year -- so for sub $20, I'm drinking 2006 mostly. For better zins, I'm still finishing the 2005s.

Given the rating, we've opened this bottling early, twice, mostly for the novelty and to determine whether to stock up.

The first time I poured a glass and let sit for 45 minutes. It was good, but could have used more air. The second time we tasted a bit, then put the rest through a vinturi aerator. It was markedly better after aeration.

I had my first taste of this wine today, had gathered my impressions ready to make a post, and then read the posts already rendered. Not much more to add, just echoing here mostly, but what the hell, I was ready to post, so here it is:

Ready to drink now. Liked the jammy fruit (bramble, blueberry, et al.), but even moreso, I enjoyed the finish- it made it a solid 90pt wine IMO. Definately worth it at 18 bucks. I will be back to my LWS for more.

I guess this really confirms for me that I just don't get Zin. I found this wine to be pretty much undrinkable, it was mainly the hottness that I think put me off, but I think that may just be a personal preference. Oh well, plenty of other varietals to go around.