Tangy, with raspberry flavors and some oak. Good tannic structure.

Offers enough ripe berry and raspberry flavors to hold your interest, turning dry and austere.

…if you like these hedonistic, high alcohol and raisin-sweet zins, try it with an equally rich game preparation, such as roast venison in a zin and blackberry reduction.

…black fruits with a whiff of vanilla…full bodied with raspberry and cherry flavors…not overripe…

if you find an Edmeades zinfandel, take a gamble on it and you're likely to be rewarded. The '96 zin has the typically varietal briary nose; the concentration of dark fruit flavors are obvious, but it's not overdone nor overshadowed by high alcohol levels, as many zins are; subtle, almost elegant. Check out the single vineyard zins for a real treat.

This is a richly flavored spicy zin that has great balance and will age well for some years.

Claret-like but the wine has the long finish of a zinfandel. An enticing whiff of raspberry.

Its oaky aromas and mildly jammy flavors suggest vanilla and a bit of berry-pie sweetness…

Dark, concentrated and tangy, with lots of dark berry and cherry flavors, some tannin ad a long finish. A mouth-filling wine.

Showing clear family ties to its sibling from the Ciapusci Vineyard…yet once again there is so much richness and ready depth apparent that its alcoholic foibles are forgivable. Whatever it accompanies at the table will need flavors that are as big and bold as it is.

Closed nose, but you can pick up the faint smoke and fragrances that will develop in time. Full bodied and loaded with raspberries, blueberries, anise and structured with firm tannins, this one is there for the distance.

This wine had a certain rustic quality to it, as well as a thick, sweetish texture… …a pleasing wine with good fruit-to-tannin balance and would go well with assertively seasoned Thai or Szechuan dishes.

Here is yet another exponent of high ripeness that manages to deliver tantalizing fruitiness despite its outsized alcohol (15.3%). Its full body and fleshy demeanor make it one that demands that it be partnered to boldly flavored foods…

The bouquets of the Ciapusci Vineyard is loaded with black pepper, anise and berries. The berry flavors are intensely rich and are complemented by spice and oak and held together by strong tannins.

Blessed with a wealth of fruit, a surprising level of glycerin and a perfectly proportioned, layered finish. A beautifully made medium-to full bodied Zinfandel that manages to hide its lofty alcohol content.

While ripeness for ripeness' sake is no virtue by our reckoning, ripeness when accompanied by ample fruit can make for a most dramatic Zinfandel. Fairly forthright in oak as well, the wine starts with aromas of ripe plums, cocoa and berries that are replayed in its lush, highly extracted flavors. A big, broad-shouldered Zin with lots of weight and fleshy density, it is very long and unrelenting in its impressions of super-ripe berries and pushy oak, and warrants a bit of cellaring.

A rich yet elegant zin, with a floral blackberry aroma, plus soft and succulent fruit flavors. Shows great balance, good acidity, long finish.

Showing a good sense of range in its creamy, liberally oaked aromas and its deep, fairly forward flavors, this commendable Zin presents more than the typical theme of blackberries and shows a sprinkling of sweeter raspberry and wild cherry elements throughout. It is at once both mouthfilling and quite well balanced and, if just very slightly dry at the finish, is never troubled by heat or astringency. Clearly capable of age, it promises to get even better with anywhere from three to six years of cellaring. (Also appears 12/97)

The nose offers gingersnap and black cherry. Forward fruit fills the palate; berries, cherry and ginger spice. Tasty and ripe, full bodied and generous. This is a wine for serious fruit lovers.

Appealing and pleasant, with delicate aromas of licorice, raspberry, plus lean acidity and firm oak. Turns a bit spritzy on the finish.

Despite its marked alcohol of 14.1%, this wine smells of dried grapes with a bent to late harvest concentration. What it lacks in aroma, and does not find on the palate either, is a strong center of fruitiness. Its tannins remain robust, and there is no evidence of early senescence here, yet, for all of its sinew, it is a wine that seems to us to have arrived at its showy best. Further aging may bring additional softness, but there is no guarantee that its fruit will maintain.

Generous in its outgoing blackberry and raspberry fruitiness, the aromas also have ripe, somewhat concentrated quality. Rich oak is a constant in both nose and mouth, and so too are fruit and high levels of ripeness that add both intensity and a slightly elevated sense of heat in the finish.

Twenty dollars for a zinfandel? For most zinfandels, no. For some, yes. This is one of them. Mendocino County, and particularly the Anderson Valley, is great zinfandel country, as this wine illustrates. It's a big-bodied wine with a deep, garnet red color. The taste is intense, and the flavors are concentrated. The wine has power and a long, lingering finish. The oak is a bit forward, but let's face it, oak is where the action is these days. Keep the wine around a couple of years and the oak will blend in. But who's going to keep it around that long?

Berryish and toasty tones are evident with strong green olive, herbal undercurrents. Fairly smooth and seamless at entry, the wine offers near-mellow, ripe fruitiness. A well-made wine.

Extremely flavorful and rich.