Russian River Zins grow big on the vine and now, with a few exceptions, seem to be big in the bottle as well.
Classic Russian River Zinfandel
There are few of the classic, lower alcohol Zins left in this prime Zinfandel growing area. A few remain and they are worth seeking out. The other Zins are hot - both in style and in popularity.
by
Dan Berger
January 31, 2007
Decades ago (seems like yesterday to me), we bought Zinfandels that were 13.9 percent alcohol. We called them “late harvest”. Regular Zinfandel of the day was 13.0 percent; a few were lower than that. Occasionally Ridge made a monster; one was called Ridge Essence. It had some residual sugar from a stuck fermentation, and the flavors were not really over-ripe and port-y.
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