I hosted a Zinfandel tasting last week, in which five Zinfandels were blind tasted by a panel of 15 people in the wine industry. The flight of Zins included the following:
• Kuleto Estate Napa Valley 2006 ($39)
• Nickel & Nickel Bonfire Vineyard Dry Creek Valley 2006 ($48)
• Ridge Ponzo Vineyard Russian River Valley 2006 ($28)
• Unti Dry Creek Valley 2005 ($25)
• Mauritson “Rockpile” Rockpile Ridge Vineyard 2006 ($35)
The resounding winner of the tasting was Nickel & Nickel’s Bonfire 2006, which earned six first-place votes against zero last-place votes. The only other Zin to avoid any last-place votes was the Kuleto 2006, which ranked second overall with three first-place votes. The adage that “you get what you pay for” is often undermined by blind tastings, but it actually held true in this case. So it goes.
