'05 vintage

[dananne]

Mark, I think you're probably hitting the nail on the head when you say we likely don't share the same idea of "balance." "Balanced" to one is not necesarily "balanced" to another, and it probably just means we have different palates. I agree that people that like the more fruit-driven Zins may be disappointed in the '05s, though maybe less so with some of the general blends. Of the ones that we tried that suffered from a lack of fruit, many were single vineyard wines. I suppose it's more difficult to cover up things like that when you're not blending from different vineyard sources, which may have produced grapes of varying ripeness.

Regarding the wines we've both tried, we really liked Harvest Moon's whole lineup, but they have a somewhat distinctive (some would say contoversial) style and winemaking philosophy when it comes to things like alc levels. Like you, we didn't like anything we tried at Frank Family, save for an average Pinot from Carneros that we bought mainly out of politeness. Their other wines were completely unmemorable.

Perhaps I'm wrong about this, and maybe someone will clear up what may be a misunderstanding, but I was under the impression that winemakers tended to add acids to "push back" against over ripe fruit that would otherwise produce a flabby wine, not add acids when the alc levels are coming in low. Is that what you're saying you think happened with the '05s? Or is it that they have higher natural acids, but lack the fruit to balance it out? Maybe they added acids, treating the fruit like they have done in recent hotter vintages, but this time the fruit wasn't there and they ended up with too much acidity? In general, we didn't see what you've observed, but it'd still be interesting to see what happened there.

I have not tried the Hendry Block 28, but I do enjoy the Block 7, and have had it twice in the past, so you're probably on target with the types of Zins I enjoy.

I'll also say that, in addition to probable palate differences, you also tasted far more Zins than we did, and we didn't have a chance to sample wines from other places that you may have had the opportunity to try, like Paso, Central Coast, Lake, etc., so our take on the Zins is specific to the areas around where we stayed in Sonoma. So, you've probably got a wider range from which to draw conclusions on the '05s.

Thanks for the nice words on the trip notes, and yes, I'd love the opportunity to taste with you sometime. My cellar door is always open if you should make it to Atlanta, and I'll certainly let you know if we're ever in your neck of the woods. Of course, another offline would solve this, and we haven't attended one since the Washington offline in the summer of '05!

Jane -- In Healdsburg, I'm sure you'll stop at Selby, but if you have the chance, also give Thumbprint a try. We had never heard of them before, and we liked several wines from them. Also, if you get up Dry Creek Road, try and make it to Papapietro-Perry and Amphora, which were two good stops for us.