2000 Karly Warrior Fires Zinfandel, Amador

This wine came in one of those annoying extra tall bottles. It also has a synthetic cork. Alcohol 13.9%.

Color: Dense and dark purple. Semi translucent.

Nose: Stewed plums with a dusty quality. It smells a bit hot and alcoholic.

Taste: Very ripe fruit, fruit forward, almost to the point of over-extraction. This one pushes the ripeness envelope. Plummy with a sweet streak mid-palate. A little tangy. I can also taste a bit of muted pepper. Not a lot of spice in this one. There are some tannins but they are not overpowering. The alcohol that is present on the nose does not really show up in the taste of the wine.

Finish: Respectably long, 30-40 seconds, turning a bit tart and drying at the end.

A friend brought this over so I don’t know the exact price. I assume it was between $15 and $20. Not a bad little wine. I won’t seek out more but I wouldn’t turn down a glass either. It was a bit overripe for my personal taste. If you like your Zinfandel on the riper side you may have a differing opinion.

GA points 86-87

GA,
Is this typical CA zin for the price bracket?

That's a good question Jeremy, I don't know that there is a "typical" Zinfndel. To me Zin is very appelation or vineyard specific stuff. Even different bottlings from the same producer, Ridge for example, show a very different character.

The Karly was a really ripe example of Zin. I do prefer some ripeness as opposed to the green, thin taste Zins can aquire in cooler or wetter years, but there is a limit to how ripe I prefer it.

If you want to try some good mid priced Zinfandel, seek out the Ridge single vineyard bottlings. Admittedly they are a blend and never, at least in my experience, 100% Zinfandel grapes, but Paul Draper does a fine job year in and year out.

If any of the Ranch Zabaco Zins are available in the upside down half of the world, I think they are a pretty good value as well.

I'm not sure if that answers your question.

I used to have Ridge Zin's on the wine list at the restaurant I worked at a couple years back. Mostly Geyserville but I wasn't sure if this was typical or simply a really good producer. I had no way to determine where Ridge stood in the scheme of things.

Hence my appearance of this forum to discover more about US and CA wines.

Thanks GA,
Although not specifically an answer it gave me an insight I didn't expect.