Ferraro's
The Wines
90 Kenwood Barissia
93 Ferrari-Carrano Sonoma
93 Greenwood Ridge Alexander Vly
94 St. Francis Pagani Ranch
96 Benziger Sonoma97 Geyser Peak 100-Year-Old Vines
97 Kaz Petit...Zin blend
97 Peterson Dry Creek
97 Quivira Dry Creek
98 Tobin James Dusi Ranch
98 Witch Creek San Sevine
By vote for top three:
97 Geyser Peak 100-Year-Old Vines
96 Benziger Sonoma
94 St. Francis Pagani Ranch
Roll Call: Ruthie, Steve, Debby, Dan, Jo Anne, Clark, Eric, Harry, A. David
My Tasting Rating (0-10): 8
A remarkably pleasant wine dinner! All wines very good or excellent.Had to stand around and wait a bit, but what price...
Notes: Is there a finer match than zinfandel and Italian food? If somebody says Angelina Jolie and her brother, I'm gonna hitchu!
The '97 Geyser Peak was almost in everyone's top three. Consistently good zin. Remarkable complexity for zinfandel. Bright fruit in the nose that rises up on the palate and grabs your sinuses.
'96 Benziger was marvelous! Very good zinfandel. Zin nose, zin flavors, zin alcohol. Benziger is one of the most underrated wine producers in CA.
The '94 St. Francis Pagani was a very good zin and wasn't typically over-oaked. The wood showed up as toasted coconut in the nose. Highly extracted, concentrated black fruit flavors.
General comment: All the wines were very good! Third place was a hard choice. This tasting would have converted a non-zin fan into an unholy zinner like the rest of us.
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