July Wine Club

This past Thursday was our latest Wine Club meeting and the focus wine was California Zinfandel – the Red one not the White/Blush/Kool-Aid one. Here is the LCBO information on the two Zins we tried –

LCBO Information – Clos du Val Zinfandel

Stock Number – 590216
Volume - 750mL
Price: $ 21.75 (+ $.20 deposit)
Made in: California, United StatesSugar Content : XD
By: Clos Du Val Wine Company Ltd
Release Date: Apr 26, 2008

Description - This zesty Zin is dominated by ripe, dark cherry-fruit aromas with hints of spice and black pepper. Dry, soft and creamy, with ripe red-fruit flavours and moderate tannins, this wine is easy to love. You may want to break out the barbecue early for this wine.

LCBO Information – Ravenswood Vintners Blend Zinfandel

Stock Number – 359257
Volume – 750mL
Price: $ 17.75 (+ $.20 deposit)
Made in: California, United States
Sugar Content : D
By: California, United States
Release Date: Jun 21, 2008

Description - Ravenswood was one of a handful of wineries that recognized early on that Zinfandel was an exceptional grape variety for fine wine production. Their Vintners Blend Zin is ready for any occasion with aromas of spice, raspberry, and mocha. Soft and round with lots of fruit and cocoa flavour, enjoy it with pork chops or barbecued chicken.

Ravenswood and Rosenblum are probably the two most well known red Zinfandel producers out of California. As I wasn’t overly impressed with the 2006 Rosenblum, so I decided to go with the Ravenswood instead. On the other hand, I haven’t be a huge fan of Ravenswood in the past but it had been awhile since I’d tried it so I thought it would interesting to see how it was for the 2006 vintage.

If you read this Blog for a bit, then you are no doubt aware that I’m not a huge fan of the LCBO – I would like to see it privatized and feel that Ontario consumers would be better served this way. I also always like to give credit where credit is due, so I’d like to thank the Vintages Manager at the Ancaster LCBO. I was talking to him about Ravenswood and Rosenblum and he agreed that they had both been nothing special in recent years and suggest the Clos du Val.

"Old School California Zinfandel"

Of the two wines, the Clos du Val was clearly the better one. The Ravenswood was ok but it had a cloyish candied cherry flavour to it that I wasn’t a fan of. The Clos du Val had a big mouth-feel to it, good fruit, nice pepper and a smooth finish.

Dorie, did up some ribs, spicy sausage and grill vegetables topped with goat’s cheese to try with the wine. Here again the Clos du Val came though as the winner as it was a much better pairing.

I think the comment Adam made at Wine Club summed up the Clos du Val the best – great wine, shitty label. As you can see from the picture the bottle’s label is nothing to write home about. I guess that old adage of “you can’t judge a book by its cover” also seems to apply to wine bottles as well!

Cheers!

Mark