2001 Coturri Chauvet Vineyard Zin TN's?

[Drew]

Have never tried Coturri Zins... any impressions?

Drew

[dananne]

Popped the '00 of this very same about a week ago. Had asked about Coturri on the board at some point, and opinions were wildly divergent. I gathered that the wines, when good, were challenging and interesing, though when bad -- very bad.

My '00 fell into the latter category. It seemed to be going through some sort of fermentation (?), and it was frothy, nasty, and reminded me of a bad Beaujolais Nouveau.

Hope you have a better experience! The wine came highly recommended by a wine guy I trust, so perhaps it was just a bum bottle.

[Thomas]

Dan,

Just had a conversation about Coturri on another Web site. These are among the most disappointing commercial wines I have ever encountered. Your type of experience has been the rule for me; good ones seem to be the exception, and I think that is only because the bottles may not have gotten to their mischievous stage.

I cannot imagine how this producer ever reached cult status.

[winoweenie]

Cult Status???? My gracious I haven't wasted a nickle on this fickle producer since he bagged everyone with his 78 cab. Found one good barrel and poured at the winery then shipped from different barrels pure plonk. Be that the " Cult of Leathertongues? ". WW

[Thomas]

WW,

When I worked for an East Coast distributor, retailers clamored for this guys plonk; their customers paid big time to be fooled into thinking they had a rare and unusual wine--unusual, to be sure...

That is when I learned that a whole lot of people with money have no clue when it comes to wine. But I don't fault them. Their taste buds seek something jarring, and with those wines, they got the biggest jar.

[This message has been edited by foodie (edited 11-24-2004).]

[Drew]

Dananne, you were right on. Nasty, grapy bad, Beaujolais with a sweet,pruny note. Only one who liked this was my brother in law who, with much surprise, won the opportunity to take the remainder, 2/3, of the bottle home! Congrats Scott. One of the strangest, awful wines I've ever had. 15%Alc/vol. $22. [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/eek.gif[/img]

Drew

[irisman]

You must understand how this winemaker treats his barreling and bottling...All barrels are bottled separately...no blending...no combining barrels for a large bottling. 50-60 gallons at a time..all by hand...no pumping...no sulfites...all organically grown...sooo
This is old country winemaking and hand corking...He has had rave reviews from Parker one day..maybe he got the good barrel?
The best way to get a good bottle from cotturi is to visit the winery and taste what he has to offer that day...There will be no consistency...on purpose!! But you can get some spectacular Zins...on occaision.

[winoweenie]

Hi irisman and welcome to the board. Your plan works well if you live in Santa Rosa. How-ever he ships his wines all over and sends out some dreadful Juice. Would much rather gamble on Scherrer, Ridge or Joe Swan who CONSISTANTLY send out spectacular Zins.(and pinots, cabs etc.)Old World? In todays market I say its' more like poor winemaking. WW

[Drew]

Speaking to consistancy, I will CONSISTANTLY avoid his wines.

Drew

[pablo]

"Just the thought of Coturri wines always makes us smile. We had our first in 1987 during a cross-country train trip - we bought the 1983 Zinfandel during a layover - and it blew us away with its highly personal, rustic and earthy tastes." From yesterdays WSJ

[winoweenie]

WOW what a coincidence. 2 new members, both from Sonoma making their first posts extolling Coturri wines. Makes one wonder???? You guys call it rustic, I call it sloppy winemaking. WW

[pablo]

"The third generation at H. Coturri & Sons - namely, Tony the winemaker and Phil the grape grower - are so committed to the cause of great wines made by traditional, sustainable, organic viticulture, that it is second nature to them to work as they do. Age-old farming practices that protect and nourish the ecology of their vineyards produce eye-popping wines distinctive from any grown in California. The vineyards themselves are like primeval gardens, overgrown with clover, bell beans, mustard flowers, and rye that serve as cover crops during the winters. The wines are made in a converted garage, where all work is painstakingly carried out by hand. Used oak barrels are reconditioned by scraping out the insides to get at the "new" wood beneath, and fermentations proceed naturally until rambunctious levels of alcohol and sweetness are achieved.

While the wines made by the Coturris are among the most opulently sweet, texturally intense wines commercially available, they don't appeal to every palate. Portlike is the typical descriptor, but that doesn't do justice to the wines' remarkable balance. The alcohol is masked by breathtaking layers of black currant, boysenberry, pomegranate, wild strawberry, chocolate, and plum pudding." From The Ultimate Wine Buyers Guide 2005 - Barnes & Noble

[winoweenie]

Pablo you sound to me like either in the Public Relations business and protecting a client or shilling for this uneven property. As stated earlier this isn't rustic but poor winemaking. I'm sure they occassionally put out a good bottle but there are posts from 4 different members of the board, one from Atlanta,one from Baltimore, one from New York and one from Phoenix and all who have fairly discerning palates who say the same thing....the wine stunk.WW


[This message has been edited by winoweenie (edited 12-20-2004).]

[Thomas]

In the modern world of winemaking only a lazy person would produce the same vintage of wine in separate barrels and NOT blend them together before bottling, and only a fool of a customer would buy it.

Sloppy winemaking might make for one or two possibly good bottles of wine, but bad winemaking usually makes for a majority of bad wine, so why should a consumer throw good money after potentially bad--but consistently bad--wine?

And to the "old school" way of making wine...great for home consumption.

Speaking strictly as a technician: you don't send volatile acidity across the country and call it wine.

[pablo]

"Warning: lovers of Velveeta cheese, Muzak, and sterile wines with no bouquet or personality should avoid this! California's league of wine writers/technocrats who only look for the technical faults in a wine, rather than its pleasure giving qualities, should have a field day ripping this wine apart for its exaggerated personality and controversial style. But if wine is meant to be appreciated for its individuality, as well as for pleasure, then who cannot admire what this winery has achieved? Coturri believes in organically farmed vineyards, and their wines can, from time to time, be eccentric, if not bizarre." - Robert Parker

[Kcwhippet]

I've been holding back on this one, so far. From time to time I've tried Coturri Zins, and really tried to like them. The last I had was about three years ago - think it was a Sauret, but I forget the vintage. Thought it might have been an off bottle because it tasted more like a late harvest, dessert type and didn't care for it. Got another bottle to try (from a differrent shop) and this one wasn't sweet, but had way too much VA - down the drain. I thought this was a bit weird, so a few weeks later got a third bottle, from a different source, and it tasted like a port. Very bizarre, indeed. If they don't blend, that would explain it, and that doesn't sound like rustic winemaking to me. It sounds like they're not comfortable in choosing a style and just try to shotgun it and hope somebody likes what they get. BTW, I'm sure Coturri tasted through their barrels and bottled what they thought RP would go for.

[Thomas]

KC, that is exactly what sloppy winemakers do. They pick out the one or two barrels that are alive, and technically drinkable, and they serve that to the so-called arbiters of taste.

This is why I am a fan of random samples when a wine is on the market against notes from barrel samples that were written before the wine was bottled.

Based on that glowing Parker review he must have had the one or two drinkable liters of this so-called organic wine. While I am at it, that glowing Parker review also proves to me the man has quite a skewed outlook on wine...

To Pablo, or whoever you are:
To produce wine "organically" does not mean to produce it poorly. And while volatile acidity is indeed an organic process--it will happen on its own--the idea behind winemaking is to prevent it from happening.

Organic means respect for the land. Also, those who claim to be organic producers need to have respect for the consumer's stomach.



[This message has been edited by foodie (edited 12-20-2004).]

[pablo]

"Over the years, we have always enjoyed Coturri wines even if we didn't like them, because they have never lost their drama and personal flair. In blind tastings for our column, we have enjoyed Coturri's Zinfandel, Pinot Noir and Sangiovese, but we always hasten to add that Coturri wines tend to be big and distinctive, so they are not for the squeamish." Wall Street Journal - December 17, 2004

[Thomas]

Pablo--you really know how to tell a bedtime story...you are earning your pay indeed.

[Kcwhippet]

This is taking the role of the shill to a new high.