The Wine Pair Podcast - Is California Zinfandel Underrated? (Discover California Zins, Cult wine, Turley, rich, juicy, and velvety red wines, a must-know wine)

Is California Zinfandel Underrated? (Discover California Zins, Cult wine, Turley, rich, juicy, and velvety red wines, a must-know wine)

Explicit content warning

07/16/23 • 45 min

California Cabernet Sauvignon gets all the attention, but a good California Zinfandel is a thing of beauty! Often overlooked and definitely underrated, when done well, Zinfandel is a velvety, rich, complex, juicy, food friendly wine. All that being said, there are some California Zinfandels that give their brothers and sisters a bad name, and we want to help you find the good ones and avoid the bad ones. Zinfandel is one of the oldest wine grape varietals grown in California, and many of the old vine Zinfandels are more than 100 years old! In this episode, we put a couple of reasonably priced and easy to find California old vine Zinfandels head-to-head with a Turley wine that is also reasonably priced to see how they stack up. If you don’t know Turley wine, they are definitely a winemaker that anyone who considers themselves a wine fan should seek out. Known as a cult wine, they make stunning wines that will impress you, and your friends. For a bit of a sneak peek, one of the ones we tasted compared well to the Turley, and one of them should be off of your wine list forever! Listen to our brutally honest reviews, and learn a bit more about California Zin. Wines reviewed in this episode: 2019 Turley Juvenile Zinfandel, 2021 Gnarly Head Old Vine Zin, and 2019 7 Deadly Zins Old Vine Zinfandel.

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Previous Episode

WTF is Petite Sirah? (Hint: it’s not baby Syrah, AKA Durif, for people who love big red wines, a punch-you-in-the-face wine)

Do not be fooled by the name! Petite Sirah is anything but petite, and if you enjoy big, jammy red wines, this is the wine for you! A distant cousin of Syrah, Petite Sirah is a wine all its own. Petite Sirah is a California wine through and through, with bold flavors and an amazingingly rich mouthfeel - and in fact, the grape is grown almost exclusively in California. Also known as Durif, Petite Sirah is perfect to pair with rich red meats, like a steak or a California style barbecue. We will admit that this style of wine is not our usual go-to, but we were pleasantly surprised by two of the wines, and the third wine - well - let’s just say it was one of the lowest rated wines we have ever tasted. Wines reviewed in this episode: 2020 Bogle Family Vineyards Petite Sirah, 2020 Michael David Petite Petit, and 2019 Kaleidoscope Petite Sirah.

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Next Episode

undefined - Costco Kirkland Signature Pinot Grigio Challenge! (Same as Pinot Gris? The perfect summer wine, side-by-side taste test, could the wine snobs be wrong?!?)

Costco Kirkland Signature Pinot Grigio Challenge! (Same as Pinot Gris? The perfect summer wine, side-by-side taste test, could the wine snobs be wrong?!?)

Seriously - $4.99?!? How good can a wine actually be at $4.99?!? Well, we are here to tell you, and you may just be surprised by what we have to say! In this episode we do a side-by-side comparison of the Costco Kirkland Signature Grave Pinot Grigio with two other easy to find Pinot Grigios to see how it stacks up. Pinot Grigio is a wine that some wine snobs are down on, but we’ll tell you confidently - don’t listen to them. A good Pinot Grigio is like a warm summer day, and there are few wines that are better with fish and shellfish. Hailing from the northern areas of Italy, Pinot Grigio is the most popular white wine in Italy, and the 2nd most popular white wine in the United States for a reason! And, we’ll admit that while sometimes Costco’s Kirkland brand can seem too good to be true, it is often surprisingly high in quality especially in comparison to the price. Talk about high QPR! If for some reason you think you are not a Pinot Grigio fan, check out the episode, and we think we can change your mind. Wines reviewed in this episode: 2022 Costco Kirkland Signature Grave Pinot Grigio, 2021 Kris Pinot Grigio, and 2021 Barone Fini Valdadige Pinot Grigio.

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The Wine Pair Podcast - Is California Zinfandel Underrated? (Discover California Zins, Cult wine, Turley, rich, juicy, and velvety red wines, a must-know wine)

Transcript

Show Notes
Episode 83: Is Zinfandel Underrated? 00:00
Hello! And welcome to The Wine Pair Podcast. I’m Joe, your sommelier of reasonably priced wine, and this is my wife and my wine pairing partner in crime, Carmela. And we are The Wine Pair!
Ok, a quick orientation for those of you who may be new to the podcast - in each episode we learn about, taste and give our honest review of three wines that are reasonably priced - meaning under $20 each - and should be easy