Gnarly Head Old Vine Zinfandel, 2004, Lodi
~$10.00

This wine has a great label doesn’t it? (It looks better on a bottle.) Unfortunately, the greatness stops there. Zinfandel is one of my favorite varieties and say what you will about its history, I call California its home. Back in Italy they call it Primativo, in Croatia, Plavac Mali, but not until California made Zinfandel popular did we hear about these other names. The grape may have originated in Eastern Europe but like the people this country was built upon, it immigrated to the U.S. and called it home. It first landed in New York, passing Ellis Island and everyone else trying to "get in” and ended up on the tables of Manhattan as an eating grape but didn’t do well because of the seeds. Then the gold rush hit and swarms headed west to California and some brought the grape with them, planting it all over the sierra foothills and parts of the Central Valley and Sonoma. So now we have old vines of Zinfandel pushing past the century mark throughout California. These old vines produce concentrated aromas and are so popular that the “Old Vines” are becoming younger and younger. There is no legislation or certification that says how old vines have to be in order to be called “Old Vines” so we are now finding more and more Zins with this popular distinction. So what is old? Who knows?

Back to this Zinfandel. It doesn’t really say how old the vines were that made this wine but it does have a nice story on the back label about the guy who started the winery in Manteca CA of all places. It says he went to Lodi and saw some of the old vines that were over 80 years old and he thought “Wow what gnarly heads” describing the old head trained vines that were all twisted and “gnarled”. So he was inspired to start a winery and make “Old Vine” Zinfandel but it doesn’t say how old the vines were that he made his wine from. So again, what is old? Who knows?

Color: Wine has brick red edges with a ruby translucent core

Nose: Smoky bacon with cherries, tobacco, some dustiness too. The wine doesn’t open up too much either, very one dimensional.

Palate: Vegative and peppery with a medium body and a quick finish with hot alcohol and bitter tannin.

Overall: I didn’t like this one too much, can you tell. I’ll blame the above rant on the wine. I give it a C-