2000 Rancho Zabaco Dancing Bull Zin

[newsguy]

($9.99 i think, maybe $10.99) a fairly translucent purplish red in color. after letting breathe for an hour (which i think is crucial with the RZ zins), took a whiff and got a nose of blackberry and other dark fruits, plus a hint of spice. tastes of blackberry, raspberry and bit of black cherry and a whisper of spice. fairly light mouthfeel, with little depth and not much of a finish. all in all, a decent but underwhelming wine.

literally and figuratively, this wine pales in comparison to my old favorite, RZ's Sonoma Heritage Vines. it doesn't look, smell or taste anything like that deep, dark rich wonderful zin. i don't often assign scores to wines, but to convey a sense of hierarchy, i'd give the '97 Somoma Heritage Vines a 91, the '99 RZ Dry Creek Valley a 90+, the '99 and '98 Sonoma Heritage Vines scores of 88 and 87, respectively, and the 2000 Dancing Bull an 83-84. i won't be buying the latter again. instead, i think i'll try and load up on the '99 Dry Creek Valley, which i think is quite a bargain at $12.99.

[wondersofwine]

Thanks for the report Newsguy. I liked the Sonoma Zin at a tasting in Raleigh and will try to purchase some if it is still available. I might have to scout around since my usual wine shop doesn't carry too many zins (sometimes Ravenswood or Hazelwood).

[newsguy]

WOW,

if you like the sonoma heritage vines, you really should give the 99 RZ dry creek valley a try if you can find it. and i think it's even worth asking your wine shop to order. the two are similar, yet quite different (if that's possible). while the sonoma is chiefly juicy dark fruits and black pepper spice, the dry creek is juicy dark red fruits and spice. and i think it has better depth and an even longer finish. not quite comparing apples and oranges, but for my money the dry creek is clearly the better of the two 99s. good luck.

[wondersofwine]

Ok, will look for both!

[winoweenie]

Agree wholezinheartedly with ole' newsie. The dry is worth the price of admission. The dancing bull has to be the overflow Hearty Zin bottling.( 5 litre or more) WW [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/biggrin.gif[/img]

[wondersofwine]

Okay, my grocery store had '99 Rancho Zabaco Sonoma Heritage Vines Zinfandel and '99 Gallo of Sonoma Dry Creek Zinfandel, but not Rancho Zabaco Dry Creek. I remember someone on the board said that Rancho Zabaco is a Gallo brand. Is Gallo of Sonoma considered better or inferior to Rancho Zabaco wines? The two wines were only a dollar apart--one was $11.99 and the other $12.99 but I don't recall which was at which price. I bought a bottle of both but want to try an unoaked Chardonnay from Kim Crawford before I open the zins.

[newsguy]

WOW,

in my mind, the rancho zabacos are far superior to the white label gallo of sonoma bottlings. the zins of theirs that i've had (95, 97 and 98) are the soft, jammy kind of zins, whereas the RZ bottlings have what i prefer: big fruit and spice or pepper, depending on the wine. the RZ dry creek valley is definitely harder to find than the RZ sonoma heritage vines, but absolutely worth the search. good luck!

[This message has been edited by newsguy (edited 04-15-2002).]

[mrdutton]

Ooooopppppsssss!!! Well I had a bottle of the RZ 2000 Dancing Bull this evening. It was consumed with a salad of tomatoes and cucumbers (with a dash of olive oil and balsmico), fresh broccoli cooked in chicken broth and spaghetti and meatballs with tomato sauce. The salad and the pasta were treated with a bit of freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Well yes, the wine was not very complex - it is not very old either. But the fruit was tremendous.

This is a very fruit forward wine. It almost seems as if there is some residual sugar left over there is so much fruit on my palate. There were plenty of black cherries and raspberries - two of my favorites.

There was acid present, enough in my humble opinion to handle the fresh tomatoes in the salad and the cooked tomatoes in the sauce. I mean if there were black cherries and raspberries there just has to be acid - you can't get one without the other.

The wine had a peppery, spicy dry finish to it that handled my tastes. (Might have something to do with the fact that fresh ground pepper and I are old and true friends. I like to have a bit of salad with me pepper.)

And to top it all off it was not super-sized BIG, as it came in around 13% alcohol (unlike the Tobin James Zin I had a couple of weeks ago that was almost 16%.)

For a blend of grapes from Lodi, Sonoma, Central Coast, North Coast and California Valley this juice just was not that bad for the less than $10.00 a bottle cost.

So I guess I don't completely agree with Newbie's assessment of this wine. I'd buy this Zin again and use it out on the deck in the back yard as a summer drinker with the BBQ'd stuff that comes off the grill. Or I'd just use it to swill a few glasses in the evening to "calm down" after a hard day a work.

[winoweenie]

[img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/biggrin.gif[/img]... Hard (giggle) days (giggle) WORK? WW [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/wink.gif[/img]

[mrdutton]

Well you might be right. I am having just too much fun to call what I am doing work.

But some days can be tedious........ [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/biggrin.gif[/img]

Oh, BTW the RZ Dancing Bull Zin was $9.49 per w/o case discount here in Virginia Beach.

[This message has been edited by mrdutton (edited 05-15-2002).]

[leatherman]

Did Bucko give this wine a really high score recently? like a 91 qpr?

[zenda2]

Thru the magic of Cut and paste, Bucko sez:

2000 Rancho Zabaco, Zinfandel, Dancing Bull, California, $12. This ruby beauty has lively raspberry aromas brimming from the glass, with just a touch of cranberry and tea. Blackberry and raspberry jam dominates the palate, with ripe tannins and soft acidity. This is a fun wine. 88/90.

[Bucko]

I like the wine myself, fun right now with BBQ, and certainly a fair price at discounters. Can't ask for much more in the price class.