2003 Turley Dogtown Vineyard Zinfandel
When some of you hear the word zinfandel you are going to think of a dreadful pink “wine” which is pretty much unfit for drinking. Zinfandel is a grape variety grown in California, in fact it might be “the american grape” in my book. Zinfandel can be bastardized into the white zinfandel fruit punch that used to be so popular a few years back. However, when made into red wine zinfandel produces a wonderfully spicy and bold red which goes fantastically with grilled foods.
Tonight’s example is from Turley which is one of the premier producers of Zinfandel wine. The previous review was of the meal we consumed with this wine which as I mentioned did pair nicely. The wine itself was fantastic (although I admit I’ve yet to meet a Turley wine I didn’t like), it had a nice spiciness to it but not so much that the fruit flavors (raspberry and strawberry to my somewhat unrefined palate) were covered up. The alcohol level in this wine is 16.5% which is high by many wine standards but not overly high by zinfandel standards, I found the flavor of the wine stood up very well to the alcohol level such that the wine did not taste overly alcoholic at all.
I can’t recommend this wine enough if you run across it, wine-searcher has the price tracking at around $70 a bottle right now, so if you happen across it and it’s in that neighborhood price-wise by all means pick it up and give it a try. If you see a Turley and it’s in your price range regardless of what vineyard it is I’d recommend picking it up, it is very unlikely that you’ll be disappointed.
While not exactly a cult winery, Turley can sometimes be a bit hard to get your hands on, especially some of the wines from the more prestigious vineyards. If you can’t find Turley or if you’d like to spend a little less money, Rosenblum makes some decent juice which I’d recommend giving a try if you’re interested in trying something outside the typical merlot, cab, pinot rotation that it’s easy to fall into with US wines (not that there is anything wrong with those wines, just that it’s always good to expand horizons). I recommend when trying any new variety of wine that you try at least two bottles from different producers, this way you are less likely to be turned off to a type of wine simply because you don’t like one producer’s style. Seghesio also makes a fine example of zinfandel which last I recall could be had for around $17.
Tags: cooking, drinks, food, turley, wine, zinfandel