Carol Shelton 2000 "Rocky Reserve" Rockpile road vineyard

[winoweenie]

A whopper zin that is one of Americas' most medal-winning winemakers first solo effort. Made from some sensational fruit from the Dry Creek Area, this is a wine of immense complexity, tons of forward fruit, yet beautifully structured. Brite cherry tones come forward on the nose, on the palate, and continues for a good 30 seconds on the finish.Kinda' like Ginger Rogers dancing with Godzilla. Sensuous, but your afraid to put the sucker down or it'll change into a monster. Very limited but worth the search. Contact Carol at 707-575-3441 or zin@carolshelton.com. WW

[Bucko]

Carole is doing a good job and she is a sweet lady to boot. I wish her the best. I love the name of one of her Zins: "Monga."

[vinman]

Winowennie and Bucko!
Have now come to grips with where I should be relative to the forum, and it's mostly "for the novice". You guys suggest the best stuff! Contacted Carole Shelton for a few bottles of "Rockpile Road", at your direction. Thanks, vinman

[Bucko]

Here are my notes on two other Zins of hers that I tasted with her while judging at the CA State Fair. She opened them at the judges BBQ dinner and they needed big food like that to tame them down a bit:

2000 Carol Shelton, Zinfandel, Monga Zin, Old Vines, Lopez Vineyard, Cucamonga Valley, California, $24, 671 cases. Both of these Zins are very young, recently bottled, still with malo aromas. Putting that aside, this wine is very dense in the glass with deep aromas. Very fruity. The sweet blackberries, mocha, vanilla, moderate tannins and brisk acidity make a real statement. The wine carries the 15.6% alcohol well at this point. 90/89.

2000 Carol Shelton, Zinfandel, Wild Thing, Old Vines, Cox Vineyard, Mendocino County, California, $28, 719 cases. Made with organic grapes, this monster has red fruit, plums and mocha on the nose and palate, with black pepper charging in at mid-palate. Moderate tannins, crisp acids and a long finish wrap up this offering. 16.5% alcohol. 89/87.

[winoweenie]

Buckinmeister, did you judge this year at the Orange County Fair? Just remembered this lil' beauty took a 4-star Gold medal there. At 14.7% alc the wine didn't seem hot because of the tremendous fruit. WW

[Bucko]

If I'm not mistaking, I think Orange County is only open to winemakers.

[winoweenie]

So Big Deal !!! Don't they know who they're dealin' wif???? WW

[Bucko]

Yeah, they gave me the bum's rush out the front door....... The only reason they didn't throw me in the gutter was because I said that I knew WW!

[vinman]

Good thing you guys are friends!