It is the time of the year where every wine blogger publishes their lists of Wines of the Year or Values of the Year, etc. Although I try to blog about all the wines I taste it is clear that Zinfandel is definitely my grape of choice. With that in mind here are my top 10 Zinfandels of 2019 and my rating for each.
The link for each wine will take you to the detailed Bottle Note on Zinfandel Chronicles. All of the older wines were stored in my cellar since release. Wines that received the same score are not listed in any particular order. This is the 6th version of my Top 10 Zinfandel list.
- 2017 Ridge Zinfandel Pagani Ranch – 96 points
- 2014 Limerick Lane 1023 – 95 points
- 2013 Bedrock Wine Co. Heritage Wine Papera Vineyard – 95 points
- 2016 Bucklin Ancient Field Blend Old Hill Ranch – 95 points
- 2015 Carlisle Zinfandel Mancini Ranch – 95 points
- 2012 Ravenswood Zinfandel Old Hill Ranch Vineyard – 95 points
- 2015 Once & Future Zinfandel Frank’s Block Teldeschi Vineyard – 94 points
- 2011 Turley Zinfandel Zampatti Vineyard – 94 points
- 2014 Ravenswood Zinfandel Dickerson Vineyard – 94 points
- 2015 Bedrock Wine Co. Zinfandel Esola Vinyard – 94 points
A few observations after compiling the list:
- Limerick Lane is the only newcomer to the list.
- Carlisle, Bedrock and Turley are the only wineries represented in each list since 2014.
- Old Hill Ranch Vineyard has two wines on the list. Zinfandel will always be defined by historic vineyards and Old Hill is about as good as it gets.
- Ravenswood has two wines on the list which makes the closure of their tasting room and the disarray of the label as a whole all the more disappointing.
- The Esola Vineyard bottling from Bedrock was the first time a wine from Amador cracked my top 10.
Last year’s list can be found here.
What was the best Zinfandel you opened this year?
Always appreciate the time you put into these posts. I just managed to grab some of the Ridge which wasn’t in my normal allocation. Looking forward to trying down the road.
Thanks for reading!