Wineblog Round-Up: Do Zins Improve With Age?
I’m a monster Zin man myself. I like my Zins big, unsubtle, full-frontal.
Still, there are those who argue that aging Zin has its merits. I don’t have a really well-informed opinion on this, though the other night I cracked open a bottle that was as close to an aged Zin as I have: a 1999 Ravenswood Mendocino. It’s probably not a fair test, more of an everyday Zin than the kind of structured monster that might age. But its what I’ve got. My notes:
Predictable browning around the edges. Fantastic nose of strawberry. Almost no flavor, like water. But man, what a nose! After an hour in the air, a little Zin flavor returns, but the nose is gone. I’m left with a sense that letting this wine die on the rack was a mistake.
So I’m still in the Don’t Age Zin league, based on an objective sample of 1, which leaves a margin for error of roughly 100%. Time to bring on other, better-informed people.
Gayot, the Guide to the Good Life, reports on a vertical of great Zin:
In early 1998, (sommelier and winemaker Randy) Caparoso joined up with Ridge’s CEO and longtime winemaker, Paul Draper, for a look at his Zinfandels going back to 1964. The bottles, 33 in all, were combined from temperature-controlled cellars of several collectors, supplemented by some from Ridge’s own cellars…Based upon the incredible showing of Ridge’s stable of 1990 and 1995 growths —and the good showing of some ’88s, but average to lackluster showing of most of the other vintages—one is led to conclude that even the greatest California Zinfandels are probably best drunk well within 12 years of age; and in most (average quality) years, during their first 4-6 years.
Randy Caparoso himself, writing at The Wine Blog, reaches a similar conclusion based on the same tasting:
Will big Zins age? The more pertinent question: who cares? After years of trying zinfandels cellared for ten or more years (including one marathon wine/food tasting, involving ten to twenty year old bottles of Ridge Zinfandels with Ridge’s longtime head cheese, Paul Draper), I’ve reached this conclusion: there is nothing more delicious than a good, three to five year old red Zin. After that, I just don’t think they get any better
In a posting called “Who Said Zinfandel Won’t Age?” Red Wine Buzz argues that there’s a certain self-fulfilling quality to the conventional wisdom:
Somewhere along the course of the evolution of our country’s wine culture, the notion that Zinfandel does not age took root in the collective thinking. Every myth and legend has a seed of truth. So I suppose the direction a majority of zinfandel producers took in styling their wines contributed to the origins of this notion. But like wine made from any other variety, a Zinfandel wine has to have the right stuff to allow it to last through the years and evolve into something complex and pleasing.
Winecase cracks open a 14 year old bottle of Robert Mondavi Zinfandel and finds it delightful:
I wouldn’t go as far as saying it was refreshing, but it certainly found its balance, and did not feel heavy at all…This isn’t the first time I’ve had solid, mature zinfandel that felt like it could keep going and going. About four years ago, I drank a bottle of 1979 Glen Ellen Zinfandel I’d picked up at the tasting room at Ridge, one of my favorite California wineries. Although it felt a bit more like an old port, in some ways, it still had balance and life to it, at a good 25 years of age. Lots of pleasure to be had yet – and it was far from being over the hill.
Wineboy John Brown went back 30 years:
To honor this much maligned varietal and to test just how well (or not) zinfandel can age, some zin- fanatics (and yours truly) put together a vertical, blind tasting of zinfandel produced from 1974 through 1982…Of the 11 wines, four were deemed by the group to be “over the hill” and virtually undrinkable. The remaining seven wines were all very drinkable and a couple of them were amazingly complex…I have to admit it does my hillbilly heart good to prove that the prevailing view among the wine cognoscenti (regarding zinfandel’s inability to age well) is just one more de-bunked myth!
I don’t know, Wineboy. It seems to me that the low-risk route with Zins is to drink them while they’re young, or at least young-ish. Never let it be said that I took anything but the low-risk route.
January 21st, 2010 at 5:30 pm
At 15-20 years, the ones that haven’t gone over the hill simply take on the characteristics of old wine. Muted fruit, low tannins, subtly complex flavors. It is interesting to drink Zin that tastes like old Bordeaux but I agree that the draw for Zin is its power and exuberance.
January 21st, 2010 at 6:43 pm
Hey, thanks for the quote. To the question, do zins age?: yes, of course they age. But do they get “better” with age? Unquestionably, for most Zin lovers, no. Hey, there’s no shame in not aging for the better. Is Michael Jordan ashamed because he can’t jump as high as he could in 1990? I don’t hardly think so.
After all these years of opening bottles tucked in my hallway cellar that should have been drunk years before, I think it makes sense to tell people like it is: if you prefer your Zin thick, juicy, lively, rambunctious… don’t wait until they’re too old to dunk!
January 21st, 2010 at 9:01 pm
I’ve never had the pleasure of having a Zin with quite a bit of age on it…yet. I see your point about them not necessarily getting better but still being ageworthy. I guess it comes down to what that drinker gets out of it?
January 21st, 2010 at 10:38 pm
As with any other grape, it really depends on how the wine was made and how it’s been stored. Last year I got to try some spectacular Ridge Zins from 1984-1989. I’ve heard reports of even older Ridge Zins that are still performing wonderfully.
The under $25 Zinfandel you normally serve at a cookout with burgers? Probably won’t age too well, and it’s not really worth it to wait and find out.
January 22nd, 2010 at 8:35 am
To paraphrase: there are no age-worthy grape varieties; only age worthy individual wines…
January 22nd, 2010 at 8:44 am
I’m curious, Thomas, about your personal preference, if any.
January 22nd, 2010 at 8:53 am
“there are no age-worthy grape varieties; only age worthy individual wines…”
Ah, but a massively tannic young Bordeaux or Brunello (maybe we should create a hybrid called Bordello?) offers little pleasure while a young Zin is exactly what most folks are thinking about when the varietal is discussed.
ILlano Estacado could make the best little Bordello in Texas
January 22nd, 2010 at 8:54 am
Tom,
Personal preference is not my point.
My point is to refute the notion that wines of any sort are blanket this or that. Wine writers and critics make a lot of hay telling people that wine is “a living thing” or “an individual expression of…” and then go blithely along making blanket claims that refute the romantic, more lofty ones that we make.
On second thought, maybe my point is for consistency…
In any event, I’ve tasted aged Ridge Zinfandels that knocked me out. I’ve also tasted aged Zinfandels that made me want to drink the chaser water instead.
January 22nd, 2010 at 8:56 am
Wally,
Are you talking about grape varieties or winemaking style?
There is a difference.
January 22nd, 2010 at 12:59 pm
I got in this giant argument about terroir a while back, and I think it applies here. There are inherent characteristics to varieties of grapes, and the general thing that winemakers do is to amplify the good and distinct aspects of the character. In Zin, for me, that’s the full-frontal fruit.
You can make a Zin that has characteristics that enable aging, but even the old wine partisans here seem to agree that aged Zin becomes something quite distinct from new Zin. The questions I have, as someone admittedly lacking experience with old Zin, is whether the aged wine is really improved, and whether the old Zin is sufficiently distinct from, say, old Bordeaux to justify the trouble.
I note here that the first question could be applied to any varietal. There are Cabernet partisans who prefer their wine young and frothy, too.
January 22nd, 2010 at 1:07 pm
Tom,
Your question is valid, but it doesn’t follow that the answer “no” automatically interprets into a blanket statement regarding the grape variety. Plus, with the 75% varietal rule, how does one know (unless one knows) which varieties helped it along or hurt a wine’s aging potential?
Not to mention the other variables like crop load in the vineyard and manipulations of sorts in the winery.
I believe we can all agree that the age-ability of Bordeaux wines is real, but 99.99999% of them are blends. Does anyone know which blending formula produces the best aging wines?
January 22nd, 2010 at 1:20 pm
Thomas, as a kind of parenthetical caveat, I think there’s also something to be said for wines being interesting, even if they’re not “good” or “better.” One might enjoy an faded dowager of a Zin even if it wasn’t a “better” wine.
I’m going to take a risk here that I’ll be corrected by my friend Wally, but what the hell. Wines improve with age for a variety of reasons, and this conversation has focused on the good things the wine gains: complexity, integration, subtlety. At the same time, as it ages wine also loses unpleasant things, notably tannins. Cabernet has inherently more tannin than Zinfandel, so would that not argue that it is more likely to improve with age?
January 22nd, 2010 at 1:53 pm
Thomas,
For whatever blanket statements are worth, I will use Old World and New World to label what I think you mean by wine making style. So, I am talking about style rather than varietal. And I’m definitely talking about the serious Zins, though Zin is so fun, that is a bit of an oxymoron. Older Storybook Mt is the only Zin that comes to mind that I consider Old World.
The whole varietal thing is mostly a marketing ploy as you noted (“Plus, with the 75% varietal rule, how does one know”)
I love old wine and that includes old Zins (oldest one- 1935 Inglenook- bordeaux-like without the depth) but just like I wouldn’t take a Lamborghini, neither the car nor the wine, 4-wheeling, I drink Zin for those exuberant qualities that only Zin can deliver. I know that Zin can age but I am willing to make the subjective judgment that most of the time it doesn’t get better- it doesn’t become more uniquely “zinny.”
Tom,
No argument from me on that. Barolo is a good example of what you’re talking about. From painful to silky and delicious in a mere 25 years. Man I hate the Piemontese tables at the trade tastings. By the third just-released Barolo, I wish somebody would just shoot my tongue.
January 22nd, 2010 at 2:30 pm
Wally,
We seem to be in the same general preference camp.
Tom,
If Zinfandel has higher acidity than a particular Cabernet Sauvignon, it could age well enough–only differently. Yet, it very well may be the lower tannin that underlies the general falling out of interest that some complain about regarding aged Zinfandel.
I guess I simply question the informative value of broad statements, but that may mean that i am long enough in the tooth to have gained–finally–some wisdom, if not mellowness.
January 26th, 2010 at 10:10 am
My uncle Dean lived in Dry Creek on a 2.5 acre piece of land with a small wine cellar carved into the hillside. Each year he would harvest some Zinfandel grapes from my family’s ancient vine vineyard in Lake County. We opened a bottle of his ‘78’ in ‘98’ and it quieted the room, a considerable feat given the crowd and the prodigious amounts of wine that had already been consumed. Twenty years and it was extraordinary.
Arden Burt
February 2nd, 2010 at 1:39 pm
In my experience, the answer is unequivocally yes. Zinfandels and zin blends can improve with age. However, age is a relative term with wines and each varietal, in fact each individual wine, will have its own aging curve. I collect and drink zinfandels, especially Ridge zins. Without a doubt, a few years of bottle age will yield a zin that is far more enjoyable than if it were consumed immediately.
In the case of Ridge zins, I trust the winemakers. They give a drinking window on almost all of their labels. When Paul Draper or Eric Baugher says on the label that this wine “will be at its best over the next 5-7 years,” you can take that to the bank (or to the wine cellar, in this case). Waiting 3-5 years for many zins will yield a more enjoyable drinking experience.
Here’s the experiment: Buy a half case of your favorite zin. Drink a bottle a year for six years, and I’m sure you’ll experience a difference. If you want a recommendation try Ridge Lytton Springs or Ridge Geyserville, both readily available and each will have the quality and complexity to age. Another quality zin that benefits from a bit of bottle age: Williams Selyem (known for their Pinot Noir). You won’t be disappointed.
February 9th, 2010 at 3:51 pm
No. I am the vintner at Hard Row to Hoe Vineyard and I make our Zin to drink young. It is loaded with fruit aromas/flavors and that deteriorate or lessen with age.
February 9th, 2010 at 10:36 pm
The only answer is yes.
And that applies to every “type” of Zin made. Each will age as long as it is made to age.
I consider this a far answer as the question wasn’t “will it age 20, 30, 40 years.” Just will it age.
The best age-worthy zin I ever had was from Napa’s Clos du Val. Made by a Bordeaux trained winemaker, Bernard Portet. Also the owner.
All about balance and that’s what allows a wine to age.