Murky funky nose, steely wirh fresh-baked bread, chubby squished-bug and vegetable cooler all the way. Clean forward fruit but toned down into abrasive carborundum, chaparral and funky cool apple and orange peel in the mouth. A beautiful Lake County cool-climate zin, not suffering from many of the ills befalling zinfandel these days.

Claret-like and significantly lean, something many zin producers should take notes from and a style more fans should adopt. All the 14-5 wonderfullness a zin of this octane can muster, I’m a huge fan of this label and not just because crows. These are the Cartlidge & Brown people, and they have a sweet, low-priced Zinfandel wonder on their hands here that does food-duty magnificently.

2017 DANCING CROW VINEYARDS Zinfandel Lake County 14.5

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