After working the hockey game and seeing the Coyotes get their asses handed to them, I was looking forward to a nice bottle of Zinfandel and some trash TV. Seeing that the wife was out of town, I couldn’t really raid the wine cooler (House Rules), I had to stop and find a bottle. After going to my local wine shop I realized that they don’t have a great Zinfandel selection, unless you want to spend $50 – $80! So I end up having someone recommend the 2008 Sonoma County Three Valleys by Ridge Vineyards ($21). I am usually apprehensive about buying wine off of a recommendation from new sources, but my friend Bill wasn’t around so I went with it.
After opening the bottle, I let it sit for about 20 minutes to breathe. The nose didn’t give off much of anything so I’m a bit consumed at this point. Now for the taste and I get a whole lot of, wait for it…NOTHING! There are no discernable flavors on the front-end and only slight tannins at the mid-palate. The finish is rather short and has a chalk like texture to it. I have never experienced anything like this since I’ve been drinking wine. The wine didn’t change through two glasses so I was forced to give up on it. I can’t believe that I just said that because I hate wasting wine (don’t we all). In all fairness, this isn’t a 100% zinfandel rather a blend of Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Carignane, Mataro, Syrah and Grenache. Unfortunately this was like drinking the wine at communion.
The good news is that I wasn’t forced to watch another brutal 2 hours of the bachelor this week. Because the wife was out of town I was able to indulge my inner geek and catch this week’s episode of Chuck. I wish that I could “flash” like chuck, that way I would be able to pick out the perfect wine and not have to suffer through those bad recommendations.
I am sure that you can already gather what my verdict is on this, but I will give it anyway. This, in my opinion, is a total PASS. I don’t think that I would even drink this again if it was given to me. I give this 1 out of 5 corks and say don’t waste your money.