Tuesday, May 11, 2010

First wine review - 2007 Verdant Circle Organic Zinfandel

Way back in my early 20's I tried to take wine seriously. I "specialized" in Australian wines which were overlooked and affordable. Perfect for me. It was a lot of fun but by the time I had my second son, priorities had changed and my interest faded.

Fast forward a decade and I come across the entertaining and knowledgeable Gary Vaynerchuk. If you can watch him and not want to drink wine, well, I admire your willpower and ability to be swayed. You should apply for a job as a gargoyle.

I'd like to find an area on which I can focus but for now, I'm just enjoying a bottle here and there.

Or in this case, not enjoying. I've read that organic wines aren't very good. Something about the lack of sulfites apparently causes the taste to differ (not in a good way) from non-organic wines. While shopping at Total Wine (note to Pennsylvania government officials. Thanks for your tremendous botching of alcohol sales in this state. I have to go to Delaware to get any sort of selection in wine) I came across this bottle marked as recommended. One of the employees there saw me looking at it, told me they had had a tasting of it the weekend before and that many people liked it. The clerk who checked me out when I was done shopping also commented on the number of people who enjoyed it. So I had some high hopes for it.

Hopes dashed. This was one of the worst wines I've ever had. I don't have the palate to tell you what fruits it tasted like. I can tell you it attacked the palate on the front. Very acidic and bitter. Then it all went away. Nothing on the mid-palate or end. No aftertaste. It was almost like taking a sip of fruity moonshine. It just had that up front cringe. There was nothing else to it at all. It didn't have much of a smell. Had a pretty purple-red color. But I drink wine because of how it tastes, and this tasted bad.

Did it taste bad because it was organic? I don't know. I just know I didn't like it and I won't have it again.

3 comments:

Joe S. said...

I'm trying to get more in to wine, although I'm only at the phase where I like some better than others, and I can generally tell when I'm drinking a really cheap wine (think sub-$3 bottle). I'm also starting to know what TYPES of wine I like, but that's about it. Soon enough! Although, most wine-os I know say it comes down to drinking what you like, nothing more.

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure if there's a big difference between the 07's and 08's but I loved my 08 zin - I'm off to T Wine to load up on a case.

Anonymous said...

Love, love LOVE the Verdant Circle Organic Zinfandel. Delish - and rated 92 points! Must be doing something right at the winery to get that rating. At 10 bucks a bottle, it's also a great value. Salut!