My good friend Robert Bushey had this Zin in a restaurant and thought it was so good that he sent me a bottle. Thanks Rob. This wine is *insanely* good, although those Europhile wine drinkers who worship wine where the fruit flavor is buried beneath the tannin would disagree. This is a heavily fruit driven wine, though as the winemaker's notes below indicate, the fruit is balanced by enough acid to give the wine structure and keep it grown up. We drank this with home made North Carolina pulled pork in an East North Carolina vinegar sauce and it worked great. Not many wines could have pulled that off. We were also pouring a very good Pinot Noir that was overshadowed by the Coturri. Our guests also loved the wine, and appropriately described it (as has Rob) as 'Port like'. I have had a number of good Zinfandels recently where I felt the winemaker was dialing back the fruit to achieve a more balanced wine and avoid the 'fruit bomb' label. This is not one of those... For my palate and on my scale this is a 5/5 wine. From the Winery Web Site:
My brother Phil Coturri, a partner and viticulturist for Coturri Winery, has a family estate in the Eastern Mayacamas Mountains in Sonoma Valley. East of the Sonoma Plaza, this vineyard is located about 1000 feet from the valley floor. It's very rocky and hot; the perfect place for Zinfandel. The terraces are steep and harvesting is like skating on marbles. When one thinks of the classic hillside vineyard ...this is it. For years, the Zinfandel from Phil's vineyard has garnered out best reviews. The wine is characterized with deep color, a sweet dry mid palate and a great acid finish. It streamlined on the tongue, yet the mouth is full of berries, brambles and jam. Not for those that like finesse or subtle wines, it's flavor profile is "Full Speed ahead".
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