Sin Zin

First review, of many!

Just a quick update because it’s ludicrous that I haven’t posted yet.  Especially seeing as I’ve had at least… 7 bottles since the new year?  Wait, that can’t be right.  It’s all in the name of research, right?  So, this is just a quick note from a wine I tried last night at a fantastic event put on by Second Glass, a Boston-based wine marketing/PR company.  An odd concept, surely, but they are a great group of people who organize big wine events, wine dinners, and small, fun tastings around Boston.  Look them up!   This event took place in Davis Square at Downtown Wine and Spirits.

Anyway, the event was in honor of Valentine’s Day.  Titled: Sexy Wines, alternately named: Nice Package, the tasting featured bottle with ‘sexy’ labels or packaging.  The wines really spanned the gamut: Prosecco, Cava, Zinfandel, Bordeaux and a few others. One of the ones I liked best for a few reasons was the Sin Zin.  Here is the basic information about Sin Zin:

Sin Zin
Location: Alexander Valley, CA
Grape: 100% Zinfandel
Barrel Situation: Aged for 10 months in 75% American Oak, 25% French Oak and 25% in new barrels
Release Date: I have to check which year we were drinking, but probably October of that year
pH: 3.7
Acidity: 6.6 g/L

(I am working on figuring out how the pH and Acidity tangibly affect what you taste, but I’ll get to that in another post).

Overall: I thought it was smooth, fruity (I like my Zins fruity as they should be) and it’s got a great story.  I know, who cares about a story when you’re just drinking?  Well, I guess I do.  Apparently Alexander Valley Vineyards has a line low-to-high quality Zinfandels:  Temptation Zin,  Sin Zin and the finest: Redemption Zin.  We only tried the Sin Zin so I can’t compare, but I plan to in the future.  The Sin Zin was dynamic– to me that means that because its flavor is fruity (this tends to be the opposite of dry, which would the standout texture and taste quality of a Merlot, for example), tangy (slightly sour not in a bad way) and a little (tiny bit) bitter– it alerts several parts of your tongue.  I find that wines that are only one of those, hit only one spot on your tongue, disappear very quickly at the end of the taste– sometimes (like when tasting a stale/bitter/just not good wine) that’s a good thing.   It’s called the wine’s “finish” if it’s good and I call it an “aftertaste” if it’s bad.  That’s julia-terminology, nothing technical.  Either way, I love that the wine lingers a little bit in its finish.  You get a slight taste of its oak, spice and fruit that rounds out the taste at the end.   There are a few flavors that stood out in particular, especially after doing the little trick of swallowing with your mouth shut then breathing out through your nose.  The wine “opened” really boldly.  I could pick out an big juicy fruit (wasn’t sure what precisely– a berry though), and then a spice.  I couldn’t pick out either the first time through.  After a few more tastes and some deep breathing to get the smell– I could easily taste strawberry.  Delish!  Then eventually I picked out something like a cinnamon or pepper– I know those don’t sound even close but next to a grape?  They’re oddly similar.  It turns out that flavor was black pepper.  I love me some spice so of course I thought that was the perfect pairing with the juicy-ness of the strawberry flavor.

This Zin was fruity, as most Zins tend to be, but it was also well balanced– in both flavor (strawberry with black pepper), dynamics (opens boldly and finishes well) but ALSO in texture.  Which counts for something!    It had lots of flavors, but with a hint of its tannins, it doesn’t get away from you.  What I mean by “get away” is that sometimes wines don’t taste the way their smell promises they will.   In my mind, this comes from lacking any texture (another way of putting it lacks ‘legs to stand on’- but in wine speak “legs” has its own meaning, so I’ll avoid that for now).  If the wine can’t get a hold of your tongue with a little texture, it really will flow right by without tasting anything like how it smelled.  I hate that!  This wine’s tannins (although not a wine known for tannins)  gave it just enough grittiness (that dry-ish feeling on your tongue, but in this case it was light!)   to stick to your tongue and enables you to taste the flavors it offered.  #Success.

All in all,  I thought the Sin Zin was a great buy.  It retails for about $20 per bottle and the “sexy packaging” the event was promoting features a strapping young, nearly nude fellow.  It’s classy though, I promise.  I think its flavor makes it great as a standalone wine, but it would be NICELY paired with something savory– a cheddar cheese or  meat dish, but its great flavor would be lost pairing it with something like a spicy chili.  I think it would be a perfect Valentine’s Day treat!

Referenced Vocab: Tannins, Texture, Finish, Aftertaste, Pairing, Dry (or not so, in this case), Zinfandel, Merlot
Questions? Comments?  Do you like Zins?  Favorites?  Prefer a Merlot?  Just curious!