Wine Review - 2009 Pepperwood Grove Old Vines Zinfandel: A Walk Down Memory Lane

We discovered Pepperwood Grove about 7 or 8 years ago in the United States via their California Pinot Noir which was an absolutely amazing wine for being $7 USD. It was one of those wines that stood out at that price point. We picked it up at our local outlet of The Fresh Market (a chain of gourmet markets on the East Coast of the US and an amazing shopping experience if you ever get the chance...so relaxing). 

But back to the wine. 

We later tried to find the wine again but alas this version only able to be found a couple of more times.  The next time we saw the Pepperwood Grove Pinot Noir it was clearly marked as Chilean Pinot Noir and not nearly as good.  We have subsequently come to find out the shear size of the Pepperwood Grove brand as part of the Don Sebastiani & Sons wine conglomerate (which is huge).  The complexity of the wine belies the size of the company and its brands.

The Zinfandel was something we tried in the US and remembered as being a solid wine but we wanted to revisit the brand and the wine.  As a Zinfandel it has a dark look in the glass, so dark as to be opaque but still not as dark as other Zins we have had.  The wine looks like a medium bodied wine in the glass which is a little counter-intuitive to the typical Zin.

The smell is quite big which is in line with what we would consider to be a Zin but the dominants smells are wood, strawberry jam, and nutmeg.  There is a lot going on in the nose. 

As for the flavour profile, the wine tastes like it smells with strawberry jam continuing along with more hints of oak/vanilla.  The wine is certainly fairly bold but it is not overly tannic so there is a bit of an issue with the balance.  If the acid and fruit were in balance and the wine was a bit more round it would be amazing.  As it stands, it is a solid drinking wine and has enough complexity to make it interesting.

	Tasting Notes:	Score:
Sight (0-5)	Dark but medium bodied look in the glass, not typical Zin.	3.75
Smell (0-5)	The nose is all wood, strawberry jam, and nutmeg.	4.0
Taste (0-10)	Complex enough wine to keep it interesting with oak/vanilla and strawberry jam again but not overly tannic and the balance is not quite there.  Good overall though.	7.75
	Total:	15.5 / 20  (77.5%)

This is a good drinking wine with enough jamminess to make it worth a try. At $17 locally it is in the right price range but we would prefer $7 US. ;)

Keep on drinking!

Chris & Shannon