OZ The Zinfandel Party
OZ
The Zinfandel Party
It is said that it was while author L. Frank Baum was summering in Holland Michigan that he got the ideas for Oz. It is only fitting that the Zinfandel judging called by some “Order of Zinfandel” and others “Only Zinfandel” is back in Holland. It is now an official American Wine Society event and open to all American Wine Society members. It was originally started by Dale Bush and Cal Wilde, organizers of the Tasters Guild International Wine Judging in the early 1990’s. Today, it continues on the grounds of Vineyard LeRoux hosted by Tom and Kim LeRoux and Brian and Alice Cain.
As a co-host, I have too much to do to taste all of the wines, as I had in the past. However, I did briefly visit all of the panels tasting a wine or two as well as tasting the top 8 scoring wines. Some observations I made about the general preferences of most of the judges are thus. First and foremost, most people do not like mature Zinfandel. Generally wines five years of age or older will be viewed as badly flawed. On several occasions people have brought mature Zins as old as 20 years old. Without exception, they are viewed as very badly flawed by the judges. Part of the problem is that such wines require very careful transport and decanting preferably before they are transported. So, besides looking and feeling very “dirty” these mature wines also have a much more resinous, coffee-like flavor with none of the decadently ripe rich black fruit that their 1 or 2 year old siblings offer.
Most of the judges do not like and marked down the wines that had a good dose of toasted oak. Though I am an oak hound and in my own winemaking practices throw as much toasted oak on my wines as they’ll take, I do agree that among most California Zinfandels, the flavor of smoke, toast, and bitter vanilla really don’t enhance the overall flavor and probably compromise it. Most of the judges also are not fond of veggie flavors especially when they are bitter veggies that resemble Swiss Chard or Turnip greens. Generally, any sort of green vegetable flavor was viewed as a flaw.
What most judges do like is big fat lush black fruit. Fruit that resembles currants, black berries and plums is highly valued by most judges, but, bitter red fruit like that are found in Campari Liqueur is not regarded as a plus in most Zinfandels. I tend to disagree. I really like fresh, vivid, bitter red fruit intensity at the tip of the tongue and carrying throughout the aroma. Looking at many of the judges score sheets, I am definitely in a minority, but, not alone on this.
Because we refer to this wine judging event as Oz, the top scoring wine receives the Wizard award, second place the Dorothy award and third place is the Tin Man. Oddly enough, one of the most coveted awards is the Toto award. That award goes to the wine with the lowest score of all of the wines judged by any of the panels. This year as in the past, the lowest scoring wine with 20 points was the oldest wine; L. M. Martini Monte Rosso Vineyard Gnarly Vines Sonoma County 1996. This at one time, probably would have been the best wine in the competition. This mistake (bringing an older wine to a wine competition) has been made by a long and illustrious list of wine afficianados includging Joe Borrello, Bradford Hammerschmidt, Paula Russo, the late Bob Long, Melanie Rogers, Dan Hartman, and Dennis Moosebrugger. This year, because Dennis had already won this award, we decided to give someone else the honor. Phil Grefe (pictured) took the award with a 2015 Predator California Zinfandel. I did not get a chance to taste it, but, at 70 points it was the next lowest scoring wine.
Here are my notes and my scores for the top eight scoring wines of the judging which included 42 wines in total. They are all judged blind with the judges knowing nothing about the wines other than the fact that there are only Zinfandels entered into the judging. The wines below (except the 1000 Stories) all scored first place by the panels that did the preliminary judging. The 1000 stories was the top scoring second place wine and was included with the other first place wines as a wild card.
2013 Earthquake Lodi Zinfandel (contributed by Jackie Hansen) Fat and rich with lots of oak flavor but probably barrels with no more than a medium toast which seems to frame without diminishing any of the black fruit or reducing the nice maturing finish. 91
2013 Zephyr Ridge Washington Zinfandel (contributed by Irv Miller)This wine is much finer and more elegant than most of the wines I tasted. It is very classy with the impression of oak leaning toward the caramel and chocolate end of the spectrum with sweet red fruit throughout the fine silky finish. 93
2012 Beran Napa Valley Zinfandel (contributed by Alice Cain)Big and ripe with strong vegetable essence, this wine is HUGE! The ample alcohol volatizes a cornucopia of berries and veggies. The structure is taught and firm. 95
2013 Plungerhead Lodi Zinfandel (contributed by Deannie Picciotti) TIN MAN AWARDHere is the classic “double gold” type of wine that often wins wine judgings because it is clean, correct with no flaws along with ample red fruit in the middle and long fine tannins in the finish. 92
2015 Carnivor California Zinfandel (contributed by Kris Kelley)A hint of smoke works nicely with ripe, wild fruit, not unlike what we normally find in the Midwest but the huge crème brulee sweet texture and long ripe finish is pure California. 90
2015 1000 Stories Mendocino Zinfandel (contributed by Larry D’Haem) DOROTHY AWARDWoah! This wine is almost oily it is so fat and rich. Maybe even a subtle hint of sardines nudges the otherwise ripe, round, flush and full throttle black fruit. Not a classy effort. 89
2015 Dry Creek Heritage Vines Sonoma County Zinfandel (contributed by Pat Clifford) WIZARD AWARDVery supple and soft with lots of juicy, young, fresh flavors, it finishes with a simple dollop of more fruit but not much texture or grip. 88
2015 Gnarly Head Lodi Zinfandel (contributed by Mark Kelley)Clearly my favorite, this opens with a nose full of ripe, sweet smelling black fruit, with huge mouth filling texture of berries, fruit skins, and just enough astringency. The finish is impenetrably rich and stays on the tongue for 10 seconds. 95+
Keeping in mind that I only scored the top eight wines out of 45 entered, nonetheless, my scores were pretty much the opposite of the other table captains conducting the final judging. And, as usual, my favorite wine, Gnarly Head, was one of the least expensive wines entered.
Enjoy in Good Health,
A Brian Cain, the Michigan Vintner
