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((ORIN SWIFT'S)) "THE PRISONER"

If you're looking for a fellow named Orin Swift at this winery, you're going to be out of luck.

The owner and winemaker was Dave Phinney and you might think Orin Swift is his Witness Protection Program pseudonym.  It is not.  His dad's middle name was Orin and his mom's maiden name was Swift...so, Orin Swift.

Dave spent some time in Italy and, of course, fell in love with wine.  When he returned to the U.S., he was in Arizona and worked in a wine shop trying to sell wine to beer drinkers.  The University of Arizona had planted an entire acre of an experimental vineyard and I gather Phinney got some dirt under his fingernails before heading to the University of Robert Mondavi in Napa for an internship.

Mondavi, Opus and Whitehall name are tattoos he sports, but the best one is his own "Orin Swift Cellars" logo.

The most famous wine from Orin Swift is a Zinfandel-based blend that's become quite popular and for good reason.  The wine features the painting of Francisco Goya called "Le Petit Prisonier" and it's called The Prisoner.  

The Prisoner label was  sold (or Phinney took on a partner).  The new owner is Augustin Huneeus who owns the Quintessa brand from Napa and a Chilean portfolio called Veramonte as well as having invested in the Flowers winery in the Sonoma Coast appellation.

The second vintage under new ownership strikes us as superior to the first and a bit of a return to the style of wine which made "The Prisoner" a popular wine.  The blend is 51% Zinfandel, 19% Cabernet, 15% Syrah, 12% Petit Sirah, 2% Charbono and 1% Grenache (or so they claim).  

It's a powerful, fruit-bomb-of-a-California-wine as usual.  We felt the 2010 was overtly sweet and sugary.  The 2011 seems less so, but still big, fruity and showing the "gobs-of-fruit" styling which attracted so many consumers to it.

 

 

Currently in stock: 
2011 ORIN SWIFT "The Prisoner" $37.99

 

BLACK SEARS

The Black Sears name is fairly well-known to serious Zinfandel drinkers, as it's been seen on labels from wineries such as Turley, Elyse, Cornerstone, D-Cubed and Howell Mountain Vineyards.

The name is that of the two people who own this Howell Mountain estate, Joyce Black and her husband Jerre Sears.  She's a Napa Valley native and is a psychotherapist (I could make a snarky remark about Napa being fertile ground for someone in that line of work).  Husband Jerre has a background as a venture capitalist and he has a PhD in psychology.  

Their Zinfandel vineyard was planted with budwood from the Hayne Vineyard in Rutherford.  They have about 20 acres of dry-farmed Zin (and 6 of Cabernet, etc.) and these are cultivated biodynamically.  

Howell Mountain Zinfandels tend to offer plenty of spice notes, with black pepper and hints of anise.  The 2005, of which they made slightly more than 300 cases, is an exceptional wine.  It's deep in color and teeming with peppery, spicy notes.  There's a nice note of wood (half American, half French, one-third of the barrels being new), but the oak is dominated by the spice. The fragrances are intense and delightfully complex and the flavors linger on the palate.  

We like this 2005 Zin for immediate drinking, but suspect there's sufficient acidity to allow this to mature over the next 3-8 years.  

Currently in stock:  2005 BLACK SEARS Howell Mountain ZINFANDEL  Sold Out

 

DUCKHORN'S "PARADUXX"

This brand is an offshoot from the Duckhorn winery.  The Duckhorn brand was dedicated to making Bordeaux-styled wines.  In 1994 they launched a wine called Paraduxx, a blend based on Zinfandel with Bordeaux varieties.  

Over the years, the blend has changed, but it's been remarkably good and consistently delicious, no matter what the particular blend.

 

How do you like the new label?

The 2009 is the current vintage and it's 62% Zinfandel, 31% Cabernet Sauvignon and 7% Merlot.  The wine spent a bit more than a year in oak, both French and American.  About half the barrels are brand new and this gives the wine a beautiful sweet vanillin, cedar tone.  Add the dark fruit aromas and you've got a very satisfying bottle of wine.  It's probably most interesting as a fairly young wine, so we don't look to cellar this more than a few years, if that.  

It's the sort of wine which will "wow" those who "only drink Cabernet."  

Currently in stock:  2009 PARADUXX  (list $48) SALE $42.99

 

 

 

 

 

ROSENBLUM CELLARS

You can call him "Doctor" Rosenblum if you like since Kent is also a veterinarian.  I don't think he prescribes Zinfandel for his patients, but probably for their owners.  

Kent Rosenblum was deported from Minnesota around 1970.  He has managed to lose most of the accent, having lived in the Bay Area for so long.  After embracing the California lifestyle, he decided he wanted to explore making wine, not only drinking it.  So he and a neighbor started producing some homemade wines.  Encouraged by the results, he decided to see about making wine professionally.  Rosenblum was able to convince a banker to lend him enough cash to start a winery. The poor banker didn't know what a monster he was unleashing!  That was in 1977.  

Now things have gotten seriously out of hand.  Rosenblum cellars produces about 90,000+ cases of wine annually.  And Dr. Kent sold the winery to Diageo, a bazillion dollar drinks company. He'll still be affiliated through this year (2013), we're told.

They make something like 18 Zinfandels, not to mention really curious things like Vanilla and Chocolate-flavored "Port" wines.   Some of the Zinfandels approach the style of Port, so perhaps it's not much of a stretch to produce something that is "port-styled."

In the relative early days, Rosenblum made some nice wines...and later on with Jeff Cohn as their winemaker, they routinely produced charming, fruity, berryish Zinfandels.  And then...then they got sidetracked.

Of late, they seem to be catering to the cocktail crowd.  Many of the wines show deep, saturated colors, extremely ripe fruit, very high levels of alcohol and, often, residual sugar.   For many wine drinkers, the range of Rosenblum wines is "over the top" as they're "pushing the envelope" and then some.  The labels don't inform consumers that the Zinfandel inside the bottle may contain a substantial amount of residual sugar.

From a marketing standpoint, having relatively small lots of wines makes selling some of them an easier task.  You can more comfortably scale a series of small hills, perhaps, than a high mountain.  The character of the particular region, though, seems to be muted or masked by the current style of winemaking here.  Virtually everything tastes more of "Rosenblum" winemaking than it does of "terroir."  

They make all sorts of single vineyard Zinfandels and this would be great if they would pick the fruit when the grapes are ripe instead of picking them over-ripe.  The notion of capturing "terroir" or the somewhere-ness of a site by making wine from raisined grapes is simply folly and it's a pity.

But that's what can happen when the marketing people and the accounting crew have more "say" in the winemaking than well-trained enologists or certified adults.


Rosenblum wines are typically high in alcohol.  That may explain why one label, years ago, told about the vineyards in Contra Costa, "40 miles west of San Francisco."   I called legendary San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen who loved making fun of people for this sort of thing.  Kent got some publicity for his wine, as a result.  I hope he doesn't hold a grudge!

  

Currently in stock:
2006 "Rockpile Road" ZINFANDEL 750ml ($35 List) Sold Out
2005 "Richard Sauret Vineyard"  ZINFANDEL Sold Out

ROMBAUER

The Rombauer wines have what seems to be a loyal following.  Zinfandel has often had a bit of sweetness and now they're really catering to those consumers who prefer noticeable amounts of sugar in their "dry" wines.  Chardonnay, too, has plenty of sweetness and has never been more popular.

The Rombauer wines are a textbook example of "consumers talk 'dry' but drink 'sweet.'"

This wine is 60% from the Sierra Foothills and the balance is "Northern California."  The wine displays sweet berry fragrances with notes of chocolate.  

 

The wine is sort of like a dryish Port/slightly sweet Beaujolais...too sweet for the dinner table but not really sweet enough for dessert. 

Think of this as California's leading Spätlese Zinfandel! 

It's a kind of 'cocktail' wine for some consumers, being full-bodied and rich on the palate.  In a blind-tasting, I also detected a note which reminded me a bit of pineapple.  Curious.  Anyway, it's a Zinfandel which really excites some consumers.  Your mileage, as they say, may vary.

 

Currently in stock: 2010 Rom-Baby "California"  Zinfandel  (List $30)    SALE $26.99 (750ml bottles) 

CHATEAU MONTELENA

The Montelena winery is so famous for its Cabernets, probably not many wine geeks know they've been making Zinfandel since the early days.

One of the most memorable Zinfandels I tasted in the 1970s, aside from some stellar Ridge bottlings, was a curious wine Montelena produced in 1973.  Winemaker Mike Grgich inhibited the secondary malolactic fermentation.  The wine was remarkably bright and fruity...tons of raspberry-like notes.  We couldn't keep our hands off such a delicious wine, so I never did get a chance to see how this aged and matured.

They still produce a nice Zinfandel, but it's not the sort of wine which attracts the attention of many wine critics, partly because Cabernet takes center stage for red wine at Montelena.  

Instead of making the hugely alcoholic, over-ripe, monster style of wine, Montelena's Zin remains a rather refined, claret-styled red wine.  Bo Barrett knows the difference between Port and table wine and there's clearly no confusion here as to which style of wine he's trying to make.  Unlike some of the wines listed above on this page, Montelena's is made for "adult" wine drinkers.

The 2008 is labeled "Montelena Estate" and I suppose they grow all their own these days, since in former times they augmented their production with purchased fruit.  The wine is light  in color and offers bright strawberry and red cherry fruit aromas.  Unlike some Napa Zins which have a decidedly peppery character, this one features more the red fruit tones and little in the way of spice.  Oak is not a feature here, either...it's Zinfandel taking center stage here.  

The wine is medium-light bodied...sort of Chianti-like in some respects and that makes it a good candidate for Mediterranean fare.  It's ready to drink now and will hold nicely for several years.

Currently in stock: 2008 CHATEAU MONTELENA Napa ZINFANDEL  (list $30)  SALE $25.99

 

 

 

 

NEYERS

Bruce Neyers has been in the Napa Valley for several decades.  Our paths first crossed when he was the sales manager for a little enterprise which was called "Stonebridge." (or was it Bridgestone?) The label for this winery was (and remains) "Joseph Phelps Vineyards." 
Eventually Bruce moved on from Phelps, taking a job with a notorious importer and being in charge of selling French and Italian wines.  In the mean time he started his own label, which he said he could do "...thanks to Mr. Phelps." 
Years ago we'd taste Bruce's Chardonnays and would consistently find we weren't quite on the same page. 

Perhaps a change took place when Neyers enlisted the services of a young fellow who's also the winemaker for Turley Wine Cellars.  Ehren Jordan seems to have beefed up the Chardonnays of the Neyers label and is also making some showy Zinfandel and Syrah.

Tofanelli Zin comes from an old vineyard in Napa,  having been planted in the 1930s.  It's in Calistoga, not far from Clos Pegase. The 2001 fared very well in one of our blind-tastings of Zinfandels.  It's a deep, rich, berryish, mildly spicy red.

Currently in stock: 2004 NEYERS "Tofanelli" Zinfandel $35.99  (last bottles)

 

 

 

OUTPOST

The Outpost winery is located way up on Howell Mountain and it is a relatively remote Outpost.  The brand was started in the late 1990s and we've long admired their exceptional Zinfandel.

With a small production, the winery had only sold its wines to private customers along with some restaurant accounts.  I recall asking the original proprietor, as Ellen and I tasted his wine, if he had sufficient quantities to sell a bit of wine in stores.  He said he wasn't interested in selling Outpost wines in stores and when I asked if he could explain why (knowing what his response would be), he told us "I want my wine to be served with good food."

A vein in Ellen's neck started to bulge out and was pulsing as she contemplated jumping over the table to throttle the poor fellow.  After all, it's not like customers come into the shop looking for $40-$50 bottles of Zinfandel to pair with a can of Spaghetti-o's.

 

 

The wine is made by Thomas Rivers Brown who worked at Turley some years ago and who today consults for an impressive list of wineries.

They produce approximately 1200 cases of Zinfandel annually and the wine is deep, complex and shows the typical pepper spice of Howell Mountain Zins.  The wine has a beautiful red fruit character and some pepper, along with a brushy, leathery note.  It is exceptional.

Anyway, the Outpost 2009 is terrific wine and pairs well with grilled meats or a range of nice cheeses.

 

Currently in stock:  2009 OUTPOST Napa/Howell Mountain ZINFANDEL  $44.99

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