TN: 2002 Nalle Zinfandel

[Redwinger]

2002 Nalle Zinfandel, Dry Creek Valley

Decanted for just over an hour. The 2002 is much more fruit forward than the 2001 and the 1999 editions of Doug’s Zin. The nose is all about red fruit/strawberry/raspberry (dare I say Zinberry?) and this follows on the palate. Initially there is some heat that at least suggests the alcohol might just be a tad higher than the “standard” 13.5% mentioned on the label. However, this heat does seem to diminish over the several hours the wine was consumed. The fruit has a riper quality to it that I don’t recall in the few other Nalle’s I’ve had the pleasure to try. The finish is all-Zinfandel…pepper and spice that seemed to last for a good minute, although I must confess that I did not pull out my official Athen’s Olympic stopwatch to time it. The mid-palate was a bit on the shallow side, however I wouldn’t bet that this won’t fill-in a bit with some additional bottle time.

Overall, the wine was a good match with the brined/grilled Iowa farm raised pork, but it just came across a bit more angular than the previous vintages that I’ve tasted. Ever the optimist, I’m going to purchase at least a couple more and hide them in a corner of the cellar for a few years and see what happens.

Curly