2006 Hartford Family Zinfandel, Highwire Vineyard

We enjoyed this great, deep, and fruitilicious Hartford Family Zinfandel with Swedish meatballs and lingonberry sauce, along with our neighbor who made wonderful spaetzle to along with the main. This Zin has legs, earth, and depth to it. Not slight in its alcohol content, this one checked in at 14.8% (ABV), but perfectly balanced. No sense of heat from the alcohol. There's an oaky aspect to the noise that may fool some into thinking it's slightly corked; it's not. Then push through the bramble notes, and you discover notes of root, licorice, and wet earth. After 30 minutes it was pumping out wild blackberry on forest soil notes, but never really revealed its full depth. And it has me stumped; drink now, or wait? I'm going to leave the other 3 bottles alone for a year or two, then try again. Great stuff, and from centenarian grapes in the Highwire Vineyard.
90/100 -- a Cali Zin that makes you think.

2006 Rasmussen Pinot Noir (Carneros)

We finally broke into a bottle of this ~$20 Pinot tonight. Was it a special occasion? No. But it's healthy and I like the taste of it. I paired this with a pan-roasted duck-breast (magret), duck-fat polenta (yes, you read that correctly David), and some mushroom-broccoli sautee -- magic doesn't describe it. The fat from the duck (or was that the polenta, with bits of mushroom in it?) cut through any pretension of structure and tannins in the Pinot and let the dusty cherry notes sing through. Sauce was a broth-P.Sirah reduction with green peppercorns and the leftover brown bits from the mushroom sautee (Cremini). The oaky-spice on Rasmussen's Carneros bottle was still on the nose, but with no dill to be smelled or tasted when paired with this duck. A good evening. A really good evening.
Wine was probably a 89/100 on its own. With the meal? 94/100
Bottom line: Quack quack quack, pinot for $20, quack quack quackity quack. Quack it.
Dessert? Meyers Family (Zin) Port with simple Kiwi fruit slices. Also friggin un-be-lie-va-ble.

2006 Turley Zinfandel (Juvenile)

Well, this was a burly 15%ABV Zin from the woman who, arguably, transformed the California (red) wine industry by introducing lush, modern fruit-bruiser bottlings. Still, this was more rustic than I expected, but had the classic briar-patch fruit and light white pepper one expects in a good Zin. And despite the alcohol, it was never hot, although the "spice" under-tones could easily have been the afterburn of a young, potent Zin. Still, we liked it. 89/100.
Bottom line: Good Zin, not great, if you can find it. A wine for fans of rustic Zinfandel.

2006 Marques de Casa Concha Merlot (Peumo)

Opened 1.25.10 and enjoyed with some braised short-rib, mashed potatoes, roasted broccoli, this usually $20-something bottle of Merlot was available at Trader Joe's for about $11. What a screaming deal - and yes, this is the 'up line' of the usually solid Concha y Toro producer from Chile. Like most Chilean red wines, it has that tell-tale mint-eucalypt note on the nose, not exactly herbal, followed here by a nice, smooth dark cherry core to it. There are some really enticing fig and spice notes, the latter from the oak, and finishes with a creamy note but gutsy tannins. This should open up over the next couple of nights. Right now, it's a great deal and a lovely wine. 89/100
Bottom line: See a sale on this? Get it.

2006 Guenoc Lake County Petite Sirah

I cracked this reasonable $15 wine last night with pan-grilled brats and a sweet potato-fennel-yam gratin; they went well. The wine itself, usually an inky-black reflective of its grape, was a bit pale-rimmed. This was a probable reflection of the cooler, moister 2006 growing season in northern California, and it meant some different aromas and a lower alcohol for a Petite (13.5% abv). Still had the deep, bruised, purple fruits on both nose and palate, along with some fairly well integrated oak, but the tannins were surprising. You might give this another year or two in bottle, to see how it evolves, or let it breathe for an hour. It's ready, but I am curious to see how this evolves. There was a very pleasant mineral-graphite finish to this...
87/100.
Bottom line: One of the better Petite Sirahs at this price point.