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[Tessa]

Hi, new to the board and wine, I’m a lurker and wont post much. Must say I have learned a lot from current and past posts. I have a wine shop (Tessas’ Market) a couple towns over from me and the owner has not led me astray yet. Yesterday I opened a bottle of Italian wine, 2001 Salento Primitivo(Flaio)
I am not very good a describing wine yet but what the hey I’ll try. I would say it is a ruby color with purple hues, 13.5% alc. vol. nice and dry, quite fruity. The taste stays with you a bit but not as long as I would like. And I’ll say the tannins are mild (from what I know of them that is). It was nice the first night I opened it but I must say I like it better tonight, a real buy at $6.65 a bottle. It went great with the pizza I made, and I look forward to getting a few more bottles. If I understand correctly it is a true red zinfandel. Can any one recommend a domestic red zinfandel, at a similar price?

[wondersofwine]

For not much more ($9 or $10) you can get a Rancho Zabaco Dancing Bull Zinfandel. I prefer spending about $12 and getting the Rancho Zabaco Sonoma Heritage Zinfandel.

[stevebody]

Tessa,

Since I'm in Seattle, WOW's suggestions may be more useful to you, as there are a lot of things we get here that you may not - and vice-versa. But I would caution you not to develop a clear impression about what a domestic Zin tastes like based on the Dancing Bull, which is a neat bottle of wine that doesn't really have a lot of Zin character. Rancho Zabaco, just to give you another opinion, has assumed a far higher profile in the past two years than they have ever have, without much of a change of quality in their wines. How? Marketing, mainly. They improved their labels, introduced a couple of new bottlings, spent a S__tload os money on ads, and got aggressive with their in-store placements. Nothing wrong with any of that but their Zins are not really all that great, just a LOT more visible. Got to agree with WOW: spend that couple of extra $$ and get the Sonoma Heritage Vines or go for the Dry Creek version. Both a heck of a lot better than the Bull.

The lowest priced serious Zin I've come across is the Bogle Old Vines. It has the exact flavor profile of a good, solid CA Zin and is widely enough distributed that you can probably find it. If you're inclined to go maybe $15-$18, try the Ballantyne Napa Valley, the Gallo Sonoma Frye Ranch, the Seghesio Sonoma, the Pedroncelli Mother Clone, or the Fife Mendocino Uplands - all really nice Zins for under $20.

Back in Italy, I've found that, after sampling maybe 15 Primitivos, my consistent favorite is the A-Mano, for about $8. It reminds me of the Seghesio Sonoma mentioned above: Italian styled and full, lush fruit. If you can find that, TRY IT. I think you'll love it!

[Tessa]

Thank you, WW and Steveb. I did try the Rancho Zabaco Sonoma Heritage Zinfandel, and enjoyed it. I have not been back to our local wine shop to look for the A-Mano Primitivo but am looking forward to it. I did try a 2001 Sonoma Zinfandel from Seghesio Family Vineyards It was $16 and what a great wine. My husband even enjoyed it. As I said thank you.