sean brendan

According to the good folks at Joseph Swan: We are exceedingly slow to release zinfandels…. Our zinfandels are made, in the words of Robert Parker, “in a divergent style.” We have great fruit sources and we try to make wines from t hem that reflect the character and terroir… Our philosophy is to allow the vineyards to speak, and toward that end, they were both aged in older French oak barrels to preserve the character of the fruit.

What I think: I haven’t written much about Zinfandel’s, or even wines from the great wine producing state of California, since I’ve been at this - A good excuse to add this to the wine journal.  This wine was really interesting, lots of intense scents, mostly fruit, and not too sweet like a Zinfandel tends to be.  It even had a hint of spicyness that was nice. I think I’ll definitely look them up the next time we are in California if only because of this line: "Our philosophy is to allow the vineyards to speak." We really enjoyed this bottle during a nice evening at our friends place last weekend - thanks Mark and Isabelle.