The Cline Cellars Lodi Zinfandel - At only $11 and with tons of pairing possibilities this is a wine you'll want to keep on hand.
Zinfandel from Lodi, California. The wine spends 6 months in 35% new French oak.
Sample submitted for review. The Cline Cellars Lodi Zinfandel has an SRP of $15.
From the bottle:
Delight your palate with the smooth complexity of supple tannins that mingle with flavors of dark berry, black cherry, strawberry, spice notes and vanilla with a lasting finish. It pairs well with charcuterie, gumbo or grilled steak.
14.0% Alcohol
Here at Reverse Wine Snob we're big fans of both Cline Cellars (see here and here) and wines from Lodi. In addition, we've enjoyed previous vintages of this wine immensely, so we were quite excited to pop the cork on the 2013 edition when CorkExclusive sent it over. Read on to find out if it lived up to our lofty expectations.
The 2013 Cline Cellars Lodi Zinfandel begins with a very nice aroma of dark berries, spice, vanilla and a little maraschino cherry. The medium-bodied wine tastes very smooth and easy to drink and is layered with sweet fruit and beautiful vanilla notes. In fact, with so much sweet fruit you'd swear the residual sugar is a lot higher than just 3.5 g/L. Nice plum, blackberry, vanilla and a little toasty spice lead into a medium-long, dry finish featuring soft tannins. This is a great everyday drinker with lots of food flexibility.
Much like previous vintages, this wine just keeps getting better as you drink it. This, by the way, is the reason we never review wine based on brief tastings like so many other reviewers do! With a price of only $11 this is a wine you'll definitely want to keep on hand.