2007 Lamborn Family Vineyards Zinfandel
Winery History: Bob (father) and Mike (son) purchased 40 acres on Howell Mountain back in 1971 and eventually decided on Lamborn Family vineyards as the name for the venture. By doing so, they established the first “family” winery label in existence. Their first vintage was in 1982 and totaled a whopping 100 cases. For more history click to read my interview.
The Wine: 2007 Lamborn “YeeHaw” Howell Mountain Zinfandel 15.2% ABV is 100% zinfandel $33 (Winery Price)
On the nose I get rich black fruit, white pepper, and just a hint of oak. The palate is very balanced with blackberry, dark cherry, chocolate, white pepper, and black licorice. This wine has a medium-bold body with medium tannins which give way to a long velvet textured finish.
We had this wine on a cold rainy night, which was very reminiscent of when we first tried this wine at the kitchen table of the Lamborn house up on Howell Mountain.
Would I buy/drink this wine again? I think at $33 this is a well priced zinfandel which is well worth the money.
Absolutely and I give this wine 4 out of 5 corks
The Elyse Zinfandel is a dark ruby color with aromas of earth, raisins and light pepper. On the palate I got flavors of plums, earth and white pepper. This is a well structured wine with medium tannins and smooth finish. I paired this wine is some spicy Thai food and it held up very nicely.
My wife and our neighbor both agreed that they liked this wine better than the Elyse. They both felt that the Robert Craig Zinfandel was just a bit better rounded than the Elyse.
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.
The nose has hints of dark ripe fruit with a light vanilla and oak to it. When i first taste this I get a slightly spice/pepper flavor at the beginning with a mild finish. Here is what I love about this wine, after about an hour in a decanter the finish starts to smooth out and ends up with a candy-like taste! Only 575 cases were produced and Wine Spectator gave this 90 points. I have had this wine on three different occasions now and love it (for the most Part)! The last bottle pulled a bit of Jeckll and Hyde on me and never rounded out like the previous two bottles. So that begs the question. Which is the “REAL” 2007 Chiarello Vineyards Giana Zinfandel? I’m not sure but hopefully this will find its way to MR. Chiarello and he can tell me what to expect the next time I taste this wine.
