Ravenswood Zins Question

[Drew]

June 25, 1788....The 10th of the original 13 colonies. Where's Dutton when you need him, got your back Mike. [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/biggrin.gif[/img]

Drew

[winoweenie]

And in some cases VA stands for " Vacant Acumen "WW [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/biggrin.gif[/img]

[Randy Caparoso]

Sounds like most of you are stepping around the issue, which is typical when it comes to wineries with great reputations. The fact is, most of the Zins Ravenswood has been producing in recent years have been pretty average in quality. Some are big, but big does not necessarily mean big, sumptuous fruit. The Ravenswood Zins of today don't come close to what they were, say, seven, eight, ten years ago. If you ask me, they grew too fast and haphazardly (from a few thousand, handcrafted, naturally fermented cases, to something like 100,000 today).

[vinman]

So damn interesting! Last summer while fishing in Durango, met a couple of Gallo retired exec's, a junior winemaker and the "glass blower". Each evening these guys, their families, and a few friends would invite us to a blind tasting of various wines at the picnic table, usually Zinfandels. In one week, they three times selected in brown bags, none other than...well, OK...Cline bottles that they claim are models for a number of their offerings. Foe simple me, I still like the basic $9.99 California Cline Zin!

[Bucko]

You know that Ravenswood is now part of the Franciscan family of wines, which includes Franciscan, Estancia, Veramonte, Simi, Mount Veeder, and Quintessa. It is always easy to look back at "the good old days" but I found the 99 Ravenswoods to be nice, maybe not quintessential, but nice. I would be happy to drink any of them with my favorite grilled meats.

[winedope]

I also liked the '99, but as usual, still prefer the Merlot.