Archive for the ‘Wildfire’ Category

Wildfire Zinfandel 2007, Lodi CA

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

We are suckers for a good Lodi Zinfandel with a price tag that you can afford often.  When a winemaker asked us to preview his new line of wines and said that he would include his $10.99 Lodi Zinfandel, we couldn’t say YES fast enough.WildFire Label And we were not disappointed.  Wildfire Zinfandel is everything you could want in a Lodi Zin, and we consider it to be better than many other non-Lodi Zins which cost as much as $28 per bottle.

This wine starts with a nose that just screams “WOOHOO !!!  LODI ZINFANDEL !!!!!!”  It is rich with blueberries, cranberries and chocolate.  These flavors follow through to the juicy, but not jammy, palate.  The fruit is ripe without being sweet, and the finish is all soft, spicy pepper that leaves just the right little zip in the back of your mouth.  We had to taste this without benefit of food, but when the question was asked, we all looked at each other and said “Chicken Wings!” at the same time.  Our thought was to take the bottle to the nearest Buffalo Wild Wings, but they wouldn’t let us bring it in the door — something about “…liquor laws…”   Well, Buffalo Wild Wings gets 0 Stars, but Wildfire Zinfandel gets a provisional 5 Stars — Highest Recommendation and if the price holds when we see it on the shelf, this will be a permanent rating.

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Wildfire Blaze 2007, Lodi CA

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

What a treat!  A winemaker asked us to preview his wines before they are in general release around the country.  WildFire Label

Imagine…. l’il ol’ us! …a part of the wine tasting elite after less than a year of blogging!

Wildfire Blaze is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Merlot.  The final blending percentages are still going through final tweaking, but this is a lovely red table wine for everyday drinking.   The nose shows the dark fruit scents of the Merlot, while the palate is much more Cabernet oriented with chocolate & coffee, and the back end of the palate reveals the blackberry, black cherry and pepper of the Syrah.  The finish is only slightly oaked with gentle tannins.  With a target shelf price of $10.99 around the country, we encourage you to seek this wine out — it should be available in limited distribution by early summer, and in much wider distribution by autumn.

We will give this wine a provisional rating, and if the price stays under its $12 max target on the shelf, then it will become a permanent

4 Stars — Highly Recommended

Posted in 4 Stars, California, Red Blends, Under $12, Wildfire | Comments Off

Stray Dog Zinfandel 2007, Lodi CA

Monday, February 15th, 2010

Stray DogStray Dog Zinfandel has got to be our favorite economy priced, daily drinking Zin.  There is no pretense in this wine, you don’t have to think real hard about it when you drink it and it just goes so well with any kind of food off the grill.  We served this to friends at a small wine tasting that we hosted because we had soooooo many wines that we wanted to go through that week.  Although our normal choice would have been red meat with this wine, we really liked it with the shrimp cocktail as the spice laden finish of the wine complimented the horseradish in the cocktail sauce beautifully.  Next, we went to the chocolate fondue pot (oh yeah!) and the hot fudgie chocolate over strawberries was just wonderful with our glass of Stray Dog.

The wine starts with a nose of red ripe fruit which follows through to the palate where you also get a quick layer of chocolate and blueberry before the light spice of the Zinfandel grape hits you in the back of your mouth.  The wine finishes with gentle oak & tannins and slight spice.  It is just a lovely daily drinker for the Zinfandel crowd.  At $10.99 this wine gets a very solid 4 Stars — Highly Recommended

Posted in 4 Stars, California, J-K Estate, Under $12, Wildfire, Zinfandel | Comments Off