Ridge, York Creek Zinfandel, Napa Valley

Outstanding aged Ridge Zinfandel with beautiful layers of raspberry, cracked pepper, green bell pepper, blackberry, herb, dried bay leaf and some oak notes. The mouthfeel is dense, silky and full with great acidity to balance the richness. Landed in the earthy, garden soil end of things, with berry fruit and some roasty warmth. This really hits the old Ridge notes well and is an excellent expression of York Creek .

Sweetly fruited with sugared strawberries and cinnamon. Mature, and not the greatest old York Zin but handling its age well.

A 33-year-old Zinfandel has no business being this good but this encapsulates the longevity and beauty of a well aged, Paul Draper wine. With 10% Petite Sirah, this effortlessly struts a dark fruited, sous bois, unrolled cigar wrapper, and brown sugar personality against the backdrop of fresh rain in the middle of an old forest. Impressively fresh, with structure, length, and bottle age complexity. Blood orange provides tension to the black raspberry back end, and crushed rock lingers on the …

Tasting experience similar to noofie2 on 1/31/2017

Excellent complex old zin. We also had a very nice much younger pinot noir with dinner, but this Ridge zin made the pinot seem very simple in comparison. The zin had earthy, asphalt tar, pepper and tannin flavors overlaying its still present but mellowed out dark berry fruit. It's age was apparent with some small measure of oxidation, but was positively more than offset by the wine's complexity.

OK. I screwed up dinner with fish bought on Monday (never again) so we made a home made pepperoni pizza and I dug deep for this btl and Wow, lots of pepper, fruity, good color with some age, did not disappoint us with the flavor and this was great.

Drank at Press St. Helena. Interesting from a historical perspective. My first really aged Zin. I think these have more appeal when the power of the fruit still is there.

Clearly past its prime now and fading quickly.

The cork was totally trashed, and crumbled into atom sized pieces, so I was expecting the worst. But the wine showed well. Spicy and vibrant, and still kicking like a mule. Probably a little beyond its best days, but proved a very enjoyable drink. Fairly sharp acidity and some unresolved tannins contrasted with the peppery character, and overall it paired quite well with an old world brisket and caramelized onions.

Chocolate and stewed plum palate; tasty, tart plum, berry, mature, balanced palate; medium-plus finish 92+ pts. (90% Zinfandel, 10% Petite Sirah)

ORANGE ON THE EDGE. CHERRIES, LEATHER, CHOCOLATE, & RASPBERRIES IN THE NOSE. BLACK CHERRIES AND BLACKBERRIES IN THE FLAVOR. MEDIUM TO LONG FINISH.