2008 Maggio Old Vine Zinfandel

Oh how I love me a good Zin!  And as I've said many times, I'm a firm believer that the best Zins come from Lodi, and tonight we have the pleasure of tasting one! I remember when I first tried a glass of nice Lodi zinfandel I was quite skeptical, given the experience of "white zinfandel" in the 1990s, but my fears were certainly misplaced as a good red zin has a richness of fruit and wonderful tannins that make it a special wine!

For tonight's pleasure, I've not tried a wine from this maker, but I saw this wine on a recent trip to the World Market, and thought I'd give it a try, after all, old vine zin from Lodi, where's the risk in that?  The wine itself is a deep purple hue with bright ruby around the edges.  The nose exudes licorice, leather and baking spice, with a good bit of red fruit character.  The wine is somewhat fruit forward, but not as jammy as some zins, the rich ripe plum and red berries give way to cedar and smoke mid-palate.  The tannins are nicely structured giving the wine a nice tart finish.  I've read some reviews that complain about the finish being too short, but I didn't experience that at all.  It wasn't an exceptionally long finish, but certainly adequate given the structure of the wine.

Overall, I would rate this one a solid 7.5, especially given the price point at $8!  Tonight I am pairing this wine with a bit of Italian, some rigatoni with some spicy red sauce, as I find that a little spice in the pasta sauce plays very nicely against the fruit of a nice zin.  Cheers!