Ok, so first let me say for anyone out there checking this out I haven't stopped blogging - I just went on a 2-week vacation to Austria for Euro 2008. I did not drink any wine on the trip either, as this was strictly a beer-drinking event (and there was a lot of it).
Anyway, back home now, and back to the wine. I went with BBQ chicken as my dinner choice to start the week, so that of course meant Zinfandel. I chose one of the Ridge bottles I got when my friend Loudoun and I were on their ATP mailing list (we've since stopped for now due to all the Zins we've accumulated), the 2004 Nervo Vineyard Zinfandel. I've rarely met a bottle of Ridge I didn't like, but this one really tested me. Coming in at 15.2% alcohol, this was one of those times where you weren't surprised at the high level. Over 2 nights, the wine never really seemed to settle and integrate fully, always carrying just a bit too much of the alcoholic heat on the palate. You could tell there was some nice fruit in there, but the wine just never fully came into balance. It was drinkable, but overall a disappointment for me compared to the levels I usually expect from Ridge. You always fear this with some of the Zins that creep up into the 15-16% range, and unfortunately this seems to be one time that the formula didn't work out.
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