Zinfandel is one of the stars at Edmeades, and the 1999 Zinfandel Mendocino is an excellent value. Medium ruby-colored, with a smooth texture as well as big, sweet aromas and flavors of cherries and raspberry jam, this fruity, luscious, hedonistic Zin...

Intriguing adjuncts of dusty spice, nutmeg, dried flowers and loamy earth lend a complexing assist to well-defined berry-like fruit in both the medium-intense nose and very ripe flavors of this relatively involving wine. It shows its very best early on, however, and its slight lack of fruity depth is made evident as compromising heat flares up in the finish. Still, its latter-palate foibles are not of great concern, and its happy marriage of richness, range and value wins it recommendation

The wine reveals a deep, plummy color, and cooked dried fruit notes along with smoke, herbs, pepper, and spice. Glycerin gives it a plump texture, but also an impression of sweetness.

Very ripe and jammy, with sweet-tasting plum, cherry, wild berry and raspberry, finishing with crisp acidity and tannins.

Supple, generous & round, its black cherry & floral flavors pick up a hint of chocolate on the finish. With the dish, the Zin loses a little of its youthful ebullience but becomes a bit classier. Tannins, often abundant in young, red wines, won't seem so harsh if paired with foods having fat or protein. Below: Spicy Pork works perfectly with Edmeads Zinfandel Mendocino '97.

Bright and earthy, with a lot of fruit sweetness balanced by plum-skin astringency. The waxy fruit and super-ripe plum-prune character will add depth to spicy lamb.

Elegant, ripe and spicy, with pretty plum, berry-and cherry-laced flavors. Well balanced, supple and pleasing. (also appeared in the June '98 issue)

This Zinfandel-dominated wine (there is 17% petite sirah and 5% Pinot Noir in the blend) reveals a dark ruby color, followed by a fragrant, smoky, oaky, raspberry and cherry-scented nose. Supple and medium to full-bodied, with easy-going fruit, this is a friendly open-knit, expansive wine to consume over the next 1-2 years.

Edmeades is known for its delicious, fruity Zinfandels from Mendocino.

Ripe, jammy and a hint sweet, showing notes of cherry pie, sage and spice. Drink now through 2015.

Trim and rustic, with modest cherry, spice and tobacco flavors.

As a group, the quartet from Edmeades embraces high ripeness as their shared message, and, if certainly a wine that goes right to the brink in doing so, this one marshals a good deal of very deep fruit in the process. It is as rich in sweet oak as it is in fully expressed berries, and it makes no false claim of finesse, but it has ample tannin for grip and enough enlivening acid to succeed in its style.

Another pea in the very ripe Edmeades pod and a Zinfandel that makes no bones about being big and dramatic, this bottling from the Gianoli Vineyard earns the nod for its richness and depth, and, if it is surprisingly fruity, it is also unruly with tannin and heat to spare. It cannot be counted on to find much in the way of refinement irrespective of cellaring, and, whether drunk later or now, it is wine that absolutely must be paired with equally full- flavored foods.

A dusty, brambly Zinfandel nuanced in blueberries and plums, this is smooth and soft on the palate with an earthy quality throughout. On the finish this medium-bodied wine offers leathery tobacco and smoke.

The 2010 Zinfandel Piffero Vineyard is 100% Zinfandel from a vineyard with over 100-year-old, head-pruned vines. Aged in one-third new oak, it exhibits lots of briery, raspberry and cherry fruit intermixed with a hint of pepper along with crisp acidity and a rustic, spicy personality. Drink it over the next 2-3 years.

Fully ripe and wide open with nothing held in reserve, this wine follows the family style in being both balanced and fruity even while showing a fair bit of heat. Like its partner from Shamrock Vineyard, it stays fixed on berryish fruit and steers clear of any raisined desiccation, and its grippy last-minute tannins make a good case for a few years of age.

Intense and sturdy, with chewy tannins wrapped around a dense, concentrated core of earth and blackberry fruit that's well-centered. Drink now through 2009.

A big, ripe, jammy sweet red with spicy, racy blackberry and wild berry jam flavors, making this at one point appealing for its fruitiness but also worthy of a warning that it is off-dry.

Edmeades' Zins are not noted for modest alcohol, and this one, at 15.6% is hot, but oh so good. You can taste the sun in every sip of black currant and sweetened espresso. It's balanced, though, with good acidity and is totally dry.

Differing from its singularly unschooled cellarmate by virtue of both fruit and its better managed heat, this chunky wine is only a shade less ripe in tone, but has a good dose of blackberries at its heart. Its 16.2% alcohol is simply impossible to hide, but its finish is more dry than burning and its ready richness lifts it into the one-star ranks.

One of California's finest Gewurztraminers is Edmeades' 2000. It offers up that varietal's classic rose petal/floral bouquet along with elegant, fresh flavors, medium body, and abundant fruit.

a rich, buttery, full-malolactic Chardonnay bottled with no fining or filtration. It has plenty of power & is extremely friendly. Drink it over the next year.

…displays a crisp, elegant, medium-bodied style, earthiness, tangy acidity, and a ripe pear, white peach, and citrusy nose, and flavors.

Serves up a fruity core of mango, ripe pear and apple flavors complemented by lightly toasty, spicy notes.