Zinfandel

[stevebody]

As a confirmed Zin freak, I've found as many or more different flavor profiles in Zin as any other grape in the pantheon. I've come to only a few reliable generalizations but the main one is that Zins, once open, are incredibly fast breathers. The wine you taste on opening is not the wine you're drinking in 45 minutes. I've had very few that didn't do that. As for aging, I think it's roughly the same as with most grapes: the more stuffing at bottling, the more age on the shelf and the more benefit from it. I had a 1970 Schwann Zin that I bought at Champion Wine Cellars here in Seattle that was brilliant, deep, rich and graceful. I've also had a Kenwood that was two years old and gone. Read the reviews and go to tastings wherever you can find them. As far as low-cost, complex, rich Zins, I heartily second the Seghesio stuff (that's the Italian style, with less black pepper notes and more roundness), the Bogle Old Vines, and the Zabacos. I'd add the Ballantine Napa (a steal at $15); an obscure little gem called Campus Oaks; made by the Gnekow Family Winery; the Viano wines, the reserves of which go for under $10; and the Cline California, which is lovely in some vintages and merely okay in others. Finally, I'd suggest you try the genetically-identical Italians, the Primitivos. The A-Mano Primitivo is a lush, polished, characterful wine that sells for well under $10 and is made in a little more of an American style than most, since the winemaker is a guy from here who used to work at Hedges Cellars. In a California bottle, this stuff would be $20, easy. You might find you like the Primitivos, which gives you a lot of low-cost, cellarable alternatives.