Rockpile Winery (Mauritson) Zinfandel Cemetery Vineyard

Still good fruit and structure. Gone from an opaque dark red to a more translucent dark red. Wish I had drunk it earlier. Prominent oak spice of clove, vanilla, fruit aroma of cherry pie, red currants, black raspberries, black pepper, all of which = Zinfandel bramble, at 15.5% abv, with pleasant back end tannin. Good now, but better earlier. The abundant fruit of a couple of years ago better masked the jammy alcohol note. Still, this is what I wanted …

Decided to welcome myself home after vacation with a bottle of this, one week after a vineyard dinner at Rockpile with the wine club. Man, this is so good. I've had my Turley, my Talty, and a host of others, but this is the one I come back to again and again. Just perfect with Prather Ranch Ribeye on the grill, barbecued potatoes, fresh green salad. I stopped giving points, but we're at the upper end of outstanding and working …