Wine Review - 2010 Bonterra Zinfandel: California Zin Is Always A Great Present

This wine was a Christmas gift that we just got around to trying. We love Zinfandel and had not had Bonterra since we lived in the US.  We remembered it being a nice wine.  From Mendocino County, this is a popular California wine brand and this is a quality wine.  It is also made from organic grapes (according to the label).

The wine is very thick when swirled in the glass.  In fact, there are the slowest legs possible on this wine. They take forever to run down the sides. It is a crimson colour that is so dark and thick you can't see through it in the slightest. A really interesting look to the wine. If you were a red wine drinker you would take notice of the way it looks.

The nose is very powerful and even though we didn't decant this wine, it just has a lot of pop. It is hot and slightly sweet bouquet.  The dominant notes are black currents and vanilla and what we would consider a typical Zinfandel nose.

The flavour profile is really nice on this wine with Bing cherries, cinnamon, and clove being the notes that we picked up right away.  It has a slightly sweet start with a very tart mid-palate and a really tannic finish.  The best part of the taste is the good balance on the wine.

	Tasting Notes:	Score:
Sight (0-5)	Crimson and thick with the slowest legs possible	4.25
Smell (0-5)	Powerful nose that's hot and slightly sweet with notes of black currents and vanilla	4.0
Taste (0-10)	A wine with nice balance showing bing cherries, cinnamon and cloves with a slightly sweet start and tannic finish.	8.0
	Total:	16.25 / 20 (81.25%)

At $22 locally we wish we could pay the American price at about half that cost but it is a quality wine. Good without food but better with a nice juicy steak.  We like it, but would buy more of it if we were still living in the US.

Keep on tasting!

Chris & Shannon