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WTN: old Unti

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Patchen Markell

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WTN: old Unti

by Patchen Markell » Tue Aug 15, 2017 10:26 pm

Unti Vineyards 2002 Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel. The last bottle of this in our cellar. 14.4% abv. Includes 8% Petite Sirah in the blend. Despite a crumbling cork, this proved to be delicious and à point. Wood totally absorbed, now showing bright, still-fresh brambly fruit, only just beginning to show some age around the edges; more strawberry than I recall from its youth, backed by a deep, dark, brooding border of flavor that I ascribe to the Petite. I was worried this might be over the hill, but it actually seemed surprisingly young; if I had one more bottle I might even wait 3-5 years to see what happened; but at the moment it's morphed into a classic, old-school Zin.
cheers, Patchen
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David M. Bueker

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Re: WTN: old Unti

by David M. Bueker » Wed Aug 16, 2017 5:58 am

Sounds good. 15-20 is a nice spot for well made Zin IMO.
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TomHill

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Old Folks on an old Unti

by TomHill » Wed Aug 16, 2017 8:15 am

Patchen Markell wrote:Unti Vineyards 2002 Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel. The last bottle of this in our cellar. 14.4% abv. Includes 8% Petite Sirah in the blend. Despite a crumbling cork, this proved to be delicious and à point. Wood totally absorbed, now showing bright, still-fresh brambly fruit, only just beginning to show some age around the edges; more strawberry than I recall from its youth, backed by a deep, dark, brooding border of flavor that I ascribe to the Petite. I was worried this might be over the hill, but it actually seemed surprisingly young; if I had one more bottle I might even wait 3-5 years to see what happened; but at the moment it's morphed into a classic, old-school Zin.


Patchen,
Kinda surprised that this held up so well. Like the Ridges, I suspect it was
the balance that took it out this long.
Tom
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Patchen Markell

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Re: WTN: old Unti

by Patchen Markell » Wed Aug 16, 2017 9:18 am

As somebody around here is known to say, "yup!"

The Unti Zinfandels we held on to also aged more gracefully than the Syrahs, which is also how I feel about Ridge's Sonoma County bottlings, for the most part.

But now we've got a decade-long Unti gap in the cellar. Which is fine: we have catching up to do elsewhere!
cheers, Patchen

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