Wannabe Wino

Sometimes I think I should break out of my habits and make new pairings. Then I think, naw, I love my steak with a big glass of Zinfandel, so that's what I picked to go with dinner. Dinner was pan seared steak with currant and zinfandel sauce over cheddar cheese, gorganzola and parmasean risotto and a side of broccoli.

The Zinfandel was a 2003 Mauritson Grower's Reserve. It clocks in at 15.1% alcohol by volume, cost $19.20 and had a real cork closure.

On the nose I found a lot a fruit, but I had to let all the alcohol dissipate before I could get anywhere near my glass. It was hot. Really hot. My glass sat out for almost an hour before I was willing to jump back into the wine. And then I found fruit jumping out of the glass. Blueberries, blackberries, black currants, oak on the nose. However, the fruits were more like blueberry and blackberry cobbler than fresh fruits.

In the mouth there were gobs of dark fruit, black currants and blackberries with a little kick at the end. The wine was really tannic. It dried my mouth out as I was drinking (not to mention stained my lips!) and didn't really get much less so as we worked our way through the bottle. I would definitely suggest letting this one hang around for a while before drinking it, unless you are patient enough to let it decant for quite a long time before drinking. We have another bottle and I will stick it in the back for at least another year, maybe two.