Wine Last Sold on: December 25, 2012
Healdsburg Ranches Winery
Featured Wine:
2009 North Coast Zinfandel
| Varietal: | Zinfandel |
| Region: | California |
| Avg. Price: | $12.99 |
| Wine Spies: | $9.99 |
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2012 WINE INTRIGUE AWARDS WINNER:
Agents’ Choice: Top QPR Zinfandel of 2012
Welcome to day nine of the 6th Annual Wine Spies Wine Intrigue Awards. Every year, our Operatives and our Agents choose their favorite wines of the past year. Today, we are very pleased to present our Operatives’ favorite QPR Zinfandel - of any that we showcased in 2012.
SUPER QPR ALERT:
At today’s special Wine Spies price, this wine delivers tremendous value - and a drinking experience that exceeds expectations, easily earning it this special QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) Alert.
Mission Codename: Howdy, Partner!
- Operative
- Agent Red
- Objective
- Send Agent Red to California’s North Coast, in search of a budget-friendly Zinfandel - in time for our Operative’s holiday festivities
- Mission Status
- Accomplished!
- Winemaker
- Virginia Marie Lambrix
Final Assessment
We’ve had the great fortune, these last five years, to get to know the team behind today’s budget-friendly 2009 Healdsburg Ranches Zinfandel. Credited with producing some of our favorite wine from Bradford Mountain, Turett-Hurst and VML, this very talented team makes wines for all budgets. Always, the wines deliver an exceptional drinking experience and exceptional value.
Today’s Zinfandel shows off wonderful dark fruit and spice, in a package that exceeds expectations - given the low price of the wine. Decant this wine for 20 minutes or more and you’ll be rewarded with a softer feel and more authentic fruit flavors. Aromatically, this wine presents dark spice and earth, with plenty of dark fruit. These are reflected on the palate, as well.
Pair this easy-drinking wine with your favorite winter fare. We recommend that you enjoy the palate cleansing qualities of this delicious wine between bites of baby back ribs with your favorite tangy barbecue sauce.
This is a recommended, well-priced, limited supply wine - so be sure to act quickly.
Tasting Profile
Medium garnet hues with a slightly darker heart. After spinning the wine, two levels of branching, fast moving, tightly spaced legs move swiftly down the glass.
Complex and sweet, leading with black cherry, black plum, dried orange peel that gives way to dark chocolate, black tea leaf and sweet brown spice.
Soft and lightweight on entry. Then, soft tannins bring about a gradually spreading dryness that puckers the lips and drys the cheeks.
Dark red berries, stewed plum, dusty bramble, out in front. As the wine breathes, it also reveals Alaskan blueberry, braised mission fig and dried blood orange peel.
A long and lingering finish. Soft and smooth with fruits that fade very gradually, culminating in a tart, smoky sweetness.
What the Winery Says
Our wines are produced from great vineyard sources using time-honored techniques (with a little modern technology thrown in), and our hope is that you will taste in them what we tasted back then. Wines true to their variety and place of origin, balanced, smooth, easy to drink, and hard to forget. We hope you enjoy them.
Tasting Notes
Here’s a good, fruity Zinfandel to drink with your barbecue, and the everyday price is right! Its dry and tart in berries, cherries, and spices with zin’s wild briary personality.
Alcohol
14.8%
Varietal
Zinfandel
Appellation
North Coast, California
About the Winery
The North Coast of California, that area to the west of the Mayacamas Mountains and north of San Francisco, is a patchwork of microclimates suitable for nearly any agricultural pursuit. Over the years, the land has been inhabited by a variety of ranchers and farmers, raising all sorts of livestock and growing everything from stone fruits and grapes to greens and root vegetables. In the early days of the California wine industry, Healdsburg was the center of the North Coast, a small farm town where the ranchers and farmers would come to get the tools, equipment, and supplies needed to maintain their ranches as well as themselves. It was here that they would also buy the local wines, varietally labeled, reasonably priced, and damn good.
Over the years, the wine industry has grown remarkably throughout the North Coast, and Healdsburg as well as much of its surroundings have gentrified. But those of us who remember the not-so-old days still recall those local wines, lacking pretense and flash, but possessing a quality that is rare even today. Maybe it was the lack of traffic and hubbub, or perhaps the company, or the view, or the event, but more than likely it was the fact that every time you tasted one of those wines you felt that you had grossly underpaid for it. The wines of Healdsburg Ranches are an homage to these wines. Produced only a handful of decades ago, from vineyards all over the North Coast, they were continually present while we were discovering and learning about the wine business in California, and we remember them well.
Best, The old hands at Healdsburg Ranches
