Another great tasting was held at Ed Coyne’s sprawling home in the San Rafael hills. The wines were selected by both Ed and Genie Simcox and the general consensus was that there wasn’t a bad wine in the bunch. However, there was a clear favorite: the 2015 Outpost Howell Mountain Zinfandel at $50 was the 2nd most expensive wine. It garnered 7 1st place votes from 18 voters. Surprisingly, the most expensive wine, the 2015 Robert Biale Rockpile Zinfandel at $55 had 10 people vote it either 7th or 8th(last). Three of the wines were from Napa and five were from Sonoma, and the voting indicated a preference for the Napa zins since the top 2 wines were both from Napa.
Click on the line below to see the notes with the bottle numbers, wine descriptions and prices:
Zinfandel Ranking_and_Description
And here’s the individual voting results:
The Hosts: Todd Ryan, Genie Simcox, Laura Wilson & Ed Coyne
ANNOUNCEMENT
WHAT: Napa County Zinfandels vs. Sonoma County Zinfandels
WHERE: Home of Ed Coyne
WHEN: Saturday, Aug 11at 6 P.M.
Hosted by a team effort of Ed Coyne, Laura Wilson and Genie Simcox. Dinner will be a catered prix fixe menu of barbeque and complimentary side dishes. There is plenty of room for diners and guests. Please bring your own glasses.
Wines that will be tasted include:
Napa Valley Zinfandel:
Wines are full bodied and highly aromatic with notes of blackberry and black pepper. The wines typically exhibit both higher acidity and higher tannins which in turn makes them age worthy.
Napa Hillside Vineyards:
Wines are medium – full body. Temperatures are cooler than the valley floor. The wines tend to have more red-earth notes, cayenne pepper and smoky-sweet tobacco finish.
Sonoma:
Vineyards receive more fog and cooler temperatures than Napa, making softer and more lush Zinfandel. In Dry Creek wines get up to about 15.5% alcohol and are rich and round, with mocha and 5-spice powder.
Cellar Society of San Francisco 