I picked this bottle up from Goudas and Vines in Montrose, California. I recognized it from the series that Dr. Debs over at Good Wine Under $20 has going on, her profiles of wineries from the Family Winemakers tasting she attended.The bottle is 2004 Four Vines Maverick Zinfandel from Amador County. It cost $19.95, had a real cork closure and was 14.9% alcohol by volume.
On the nose I found cloves, black pepper, dark fruit and blackberries. In the mouth there were currants, black berries, black cherries and a black pepper kick. Overall, I would describe the flavor as juicy blackberries with a black pepper bite.
I served this with steaks topped with currant jelly zinfandel sauce over a bed of 3 cheese risotto. I offered to cook one of the evening we were out visiting the in-laws and Matt seems to think the steak/risotto dish is my specialty, if I don't have a pizza stone to make pizza with. It was a nice match to the steaks, which I had rubbed with black pepper and salt before grilling them, so that probably contributed to bringing out the pepper note in the wine. As always, I like making the sauce out of whatever wine we will be drinking as the flavors complement each other nicely. Definitely a steak or bbq wine in my opinion!
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Tell me a little about your steak risotto dish. It sounds yummy. I love risotto as it is one of those dishes you can make to match whatever it is you are serving.
4/23/07, 1:21 PM
Sounds great! And such elegant stemware, too ;-) Yes, here in the Mid-Atlantic we are in that great "in-between season" where we can fire up the BBQ for a steak and still match it with a nice glass of red while eating outdoors. I guess we have about a month until red wines become a strictly indoor, AC-accompanied endeavor!
4/23/07, 2:37 PM
Winedeb-I pan cook steaks in order to save the juices and then make the sauce with a half cup of wine and a half cup of currant jelly in that pan. My rissotto is usually made from crumbled gorganzola, extra sharp cheddar and fresh grated parmesean, though I am known to just chop up whatever good cheese I have to toss in there! I plate the steak and the sauce on top of a bed of rissotto. Looks elegant and tastes great, but besides stirring the rissotto, the effort is not too great!
Nate, you will have to compliment my mother in law on the stem ware! It certainly has taken a warm turn here this week though. I'm roasting in our apartment and drinking all sorts of white wines and roses with reckless abandon for the food pairings given that I think it registered 90 in our apartment 2 days ago!
4/24/07, 8:08 AM
Four Vines also does a cuvee from the Sonoma Coast that's quite good for about $12.
4/26/07, 6:47 AM
David, I will definitely be keeping my eyes out for more from this producer. I really enjoyed this Zin and it seems like their prices are good overall.
4/30/07, 1:08 PM