Winemaker's Notes
While I continue to be impressed by the concentration and slow, deliberate development of the 2001 OMV Zinfandel, I am also pleased by both the structure and balance of the 2002 as well as the more sprightly fruit it possesses. The 2002 promises to age quite well, but will readily offer up its youthful charms. The flavors are quite similar to our 1995 Zinfandel, centered on ripe, but not jammy fruit, with red berries and blueberry notes. Due to the more ‘traditional Burgundian’ techniques we have gravitated toward over the years, there is also a welcome, intriguing, earthy, toastiness in the background as a bonus.
Update: March 2006
The 2002 Old & Mature Zinfandel ($28) has just come into its own as well, also two years after bottling. It is difficult dealing with the general public perception that Zins don’t age, when your own need a couple of years in bottle to start off, then develop gracefully for quite a few more. We poured some 1995 OMV Zin from magnum at our November open house, only to have our library allocation sold out in about 90 minutes once people saw what it had become. Due to increased call for magnums on most of our wines, we plan to increase the number of those bottled slightly in the future. The April 2006 Food & Wine issue will evidently mention our 2002 OMV Zinfandel (in 750 mL) quite favorably in their Zinfandel report. Mr. Tanzer had a pretty tight bead on this wine almost a year earlier, giving it 90 points and speaking to its structure, restraint and youthfulness.
Update: November 2006
Gourmet magazine’s June 2006 issue had a spread on balanced, food-friendly Zinfandels, stressing how hard they are to find. They picked our 2002 OMV among their top 5 recommended wines featured (of 125 tasted), giving a similar nod to the now sold-out 2001 OMV. The 2002 OMV also got an ‘insider’s favorites’ mention in the April 2006 Food & Wine. Stephen Tanzer’s International Wine Newsletter gave this a ‘90’ rating some months previously. [OK, I’ll stop it.]