2003 Cecchi Orvieto Classico

Cecchi Orvieto Classico This wine had the most off-tasting notes with chemical overtones that rendered it undrinkable.

Thank goodness I had an extra bottle of 2004 Bogle Old Vine Zinfandel sitting around. It at least, was excellent and its spicy tones went well with tom kha gai and curry crab rangoon.

2003 Bogle Old Vine Zinfandel

Vintage: 2003
Winery: Bogle
Grape: Old Vine Zinfandel
Country: California
Region: Clarksburg

The significance of "Old Vines" is spiciness. This wine is spicy. A Zinfandel made from 35 year old vines is just starting it’s journey into becoming spicy. A 100 year old vine doesn’t produce a lot of grapes, but the product is very spicy. The problem is lack of regulation as to what qualifies as "Old Vine". Additionally, Old Vine Zinfandels are often blended with grapes of various ages before bottling to produce an appropriately spicy wine. Bogle states the vines used to make this wine are between 40 to 80 years old.

Although it is true you should never buy a wine for the label, I really like the Bogle Old Vine Zinfandel label. The painting of the gnarly old vines on a background of Autumn hues gives me a Pavlovian response.

Dark burgundy with a crimson halo, this wine has very intense fruit, including blackberry, blueberry and prune with a black pepper and balanced tannic finish.
If you like spicy wines, this wine is very good for the money. It is also, as its label suggest to me, perfect for drinking as the days of summer pass into Autumn.

Old Vine Zinfandel

I first became aware of Old Vine Zinfandel when I visited August Briggs in Napa. If you haven't visited August Briggs, do your self a favor and head to Napa. After visiting large wineries all day with employees that charge you a fee and then oblige you to listen to their canned speech, stopping at this small winery was a breath of fresh air. I liked several things about the winery. The winery's symbol is a dandelion blowing in the air, which I found to be both unique and courageous, since although the dandelion may be one of the most expensive salad greens in France, it is considered a weed in the States.

There were no canned speeches at August Briggs. Although I tasted several interesting wines there, the Zinfandel really stood out. I had tasted Zinfandel all week long, and not purchased a single bottle, opting instead for Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, and Port. This Zinfandel at August Briggs was excellent. It had a spicy punch to it that I had never experienced. I purchased several bottles, and asked for another taste. Seeing how much I liked the Zinfandel, I was offered the chance to do a barrel tasting. How could I say no? I had been in Napa for a week, and had not been made a similar offer.

First we were offered a glass from a barrel which was claimed to be new vines. I did not understand what that meant to the taste, however, upon tasting, the new vine batch was definitely not what I had tasted previously. It was green and one dimensional like the Zinfandels I tasted at other wineries earlier in the week. Second we drank from a barrel which was said to consist of approximately 50-year-old vines. It was spicy, and more reminiscent of what I tasted earlier. Third, we tasted from a barrel which was said to consist of approximately 100-year-old vines. This was amazing, so spicy it burned the mouth. This wine was like nothing I tasted before, and was even better than what I had raved about and purchased. I told our host to bottle some of the third barrel up, and I would buy it.

Our host explained, as the Zinfandel vine ages, it produces fruit that is more complex and spicy. Relatively speaking, there are not a lot of 100-year-old vines around, and their supply is low; instead of selling it, they blend it with the 50-year-old, and the new vine to get the taste I had liked so well. This was one of my top experiences in Napa, with the exception of experiencing a wine tasting with Elaine Honig. It was certainly the biggest winery-born revelation for me since learning about Veuve Cliquot's invention of le remuage.

Armed with my new found knowledge, I set off to determine if my local wine shop had Zinfandel made from Old Vines. There are several Old Vine Zinfandels on the market: Bogle Vineyards, Gnarly Head, Seghesio to name a few. Some are not bad, some do not taste "old", after my experience. That leads me to the question: what does it mean to label a wine "Old Vine Zinfandel?" How old must the vines be? What percentage of the wine must be old as compared to new? I could find nothing that regulates the use of this term, so it is clearly a trust and taste situation.