I'm sure that this has happened to you at least one time in your life. You go out for drinks/dinner with friends or family, have a few cocktails before the meal, then order a glass of wine. The wine is served, and it tastes amazing. You love it- so much so that you write down the name, and make a pact with yourself that at the first available moment, you're going to run to the store and pickup a bottle of this treasure. Sometime later, you excitedly buy this bottle of wine, only to find that it tastes terrible. You can't understand why it's so bad. It was so good at the restaurant. Or was it? You think back to the evening, and soon remember that the moment you took your first sips, you were a few drinks in and a little buzzed. Your judgment was most definitely impaired!
About a month ago, I was at a local restaurant, and the first part of this scenario presented itself. I was a few drinks deep into the evening (make that many), and I ordered a glass of w
ine recommended by the server. The wine was Peachy Canyon 2005 Incredible Red Zinfandel. I liked this wine so much that after sip #2, I typed the name into my Treo. When we finished up at the restaurant, I remember raving to my friends about how awesome this Zinfandel tasted. I couldn't thank the server enough for the amazing recommendation.
Fast forward to yesterday.
I was at Trader Joe's, and I saw a bottle of this wine. Curious to see if Peachy Canyon was even a slight bit as good as I remembered it, I bought a bottle and served it to some guests. Contrary to what I thought would happen (see scenario above), this wine was actually great. It was thin, but that made it much more versatile than most Zin's I've tried (which is pretty important when you're serving wine to friends that have extremely varied tastes). It had a really nice spice to it, and no heavy aftertaste. It was the perfect wine to enjoy before dinner, and during the meal.
I'm confident that this time, my assessment of this wine is pretty spot on, as I was completely sober when I enjoyed my first glass. I can't say the same for glass #3.
Recommendation: Definitely buy it
The great thing about this Vineyard is that they seem to have really old Zinfandel vines. It's a fantastic winery right off highway 101 just south of Paso Robles.
Posted by: Dan | June 23, 2007 at 09:32 PM
Hey, haven't commented in a while. But I'll have to second the praise that you've heaped onto this fine bottle of wine. It's great!
Posted by: Dr. T | June 27, 2007 at 12:23 AM
Hi budget vino! I’m actually trying to track you down via email! I’m an editor at Parents magazine and we’re doing a story on winetasting.. I’d love to get your “expert” picks for top 3 or 5 wines under $10... I know you have your favorites at the side but I want to get your permission to run them/talk to you about them for a sec. Would you please please email me? :) I think your mission statement with budget vino perfectly fits the story I’m doing. (I’m on a deadline, so if you could email me asap at amanda.wolfe@meredith.com, that would be awesome!) --Amanda
Posted by: Amanda | June 27, 2007 at 07:39 AM