Calstar Cellars Alta Zin Zinfandel – A Brambly Beauty

100% Zinfandel from Cardanini Estate, El Dorado County, Sierra Foothills, California.

SRP of $25 and available for as low as $15.

From the bottle:

“At Calstar Cellars we carefully select high quality fruit and take care in the winemaking process to preserve its unique character. The wines are lightly oaked to enhance the fruit characteristics and have the structure to go with food or to be enjoyed on their own. We hope you will enjoy this wine with anything from burgers to risotto, or by itself with friends and family.

15.4% Alcohol”

Today’s wine comes from El Dorado County which has some of the highest altitude vineyards in the state of California. The area is known in particular for Zinfandel and one wine descriptor you sometimes hear associated with Zinfandel is “brambly”, which describes the Alta Zin right on the nose (pun intended). Bramble is something you know when you smell, but perhaps could best be described as the scent of not just the fruit of a berry bush, but the entire bush itself — stems, twigs, leaves, fruit and all.

The 2007 Calstar Cellars Alta Zin Cardanini Estate El Dorado County Zinfandel begins with brambly aromas of black cherry and plum along with cedar, dried herbs and a little menthol. Nice from the get go, the wine gains even more complexity with some air. The bramble continues when tasting the wine along with hints of green pepper and lots of rich, jammy fruit (blueberry, raspberry and cherry predominantly). A nice bit of spicy minerality leads into the long finish and resolves into some lingering toasty oak notes. This delicious wine might have even been a little better on day 2.

See a listing of local retailers selling this wine here.

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