2015 Forgeron Zinfandel

Happy Taco Tuesday!  I bet you'll never guess what's for dinner tonight, but about the wine to pair it with... well tonight I've decided to open a bottle of a perennial favorite Zinfandel, the 2015 Forgeron Cellars Zinfandel.  This wine is produced from 100% Zinfandel sourced from the Alder Ridge Vineyard in the Horse Heaven Hills AVA.  I've read a little about Zinfandel and how the large clusters of grapes tend to ripen unevenly, making this a challenging wine to make well, but when it's done right it's hard to resist!

This wine is a lovely deep garnet color in the glass.  The nose presents aromas of tobacco, licorice, mocha and smoke, just what you'd expect.  The taste is a rush of ripe black fruit, with undertones of fig and smoke that transitions effortlessly to some notes of mocha and spicy clove and white pepper midpalate.  The tannins are nicely structured, providing for a wonderfully long and smooth dry finish with a reprise of tartness at the end.

Overall, I would rate this wine a solid 8.5, as it's one of my favorite Zinfandel's year in and year out.  And it's not your typically jammy Zinfandel, but more elevated.  This wine would pair so well with barbecue, pizza or tacos, which is what I'm having tonight, wonderfully blackened walleye for fish tacos with black beans and edamame corn salsa, all on my new taco plates!  Cheers!