There’s a lot of things I have to say about this wine–most of it of a *social-science* nature. I found this orphan on a retail shelf–something becoming more and more uncommon as retail degenerates into nothingness. In the 90’s, we saw many white-owned neighborhood liquor stores–often with red carpet, redwood rack corners devoted to exemplary wine–taken over by middle-eastern or Indian franchises and the *true* wine pushed down onto lower shelves and eliminated. In the 2000’s and oughts, we have seen multiple retail establishments eliminate their vineyard- and AVA-specific wine selections in favor of ‘California’ selections. My cellar is FULL of the clearance-rack derivations of this marketing move. You can be offended by this, but those who truly pay attention to shelves will agree. The days of glorious finds is close to being over.
Secondly, world-wide wine enthusiasts are often bewildered by us Californian’s obsession with Zinfandel. To wit: I used to be the world’s BIGGEST zin fan. As I cut my teeth on wine in the 80’s and 90’s, Zinfandel made up major portions of my cellar, and I lost no opprotunity to extoll its virtues on the un-initiated. Those days have flown for me, as zinfandel increasingly got riper and flabbier, Paso presented a version ridiculously popular but heinous interpretation and the Sonoma-curated Italian field blends of Carignan and PS decreased. So here we are.
This wine is not stellar. Tawny-brown in the glass, a nose wasted and tired, plagued by nuances of boredom and frustration. In the mouth, it expresses aged magic and conformity to ideals quite textbook in value. Sharp acid clings to every mouthfeel, but with tired placation visible at every turn and fruit a maisma of former beauty. There ARE zinfandels which age on par with Cab into the 20- or even 30-year arenas. This is not one of them. But still, the chalky manifestation of sultry chubbiness akin to the varietal cause definite points of reflection on the whole. I’m gonna drink this all night long and LOVE it.
2013 STEELE Zinfandel Pacini Vyd Mendocino Co. 15.2
Stephen McConnell 