Home Wine U The Buzz Wine Reviews    December '06   Review Archive   Rating System Calendar Fun Stuff About Us Key Contacts Search FAQ Links		December 2006 Wine Tasting Notes:  "Do y'all have any sweet wine?" 2002 Consilience Zinfandel Port, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County. Dark inky garnet in color. The nose offers coffee and butterscotch over dark cherry fruit. On the palate, dark cherry and blackberry dominate the butterscotch element. A lengthy finish of the same fruit lingers and ends with a smoky brandy-like note. Alcohol, acidity and tannins integrate well into a dense and viscous but not heavy mouthfeel. Juicy cherry and blackberry flavors come forth when paired with dark bittersweet chocolate. RWB Score: 94 breakdown 18.% Alcohol $16.00 Retail (from winery);        500 cases produced This Zinfandel Port, with rich character and juicy fruit, is done in a late-bottling style. It's definitely the fruit that support the rich secondary flavors here. Brett Escalara used good judgment to let this well-built beauty sit almost 4 years in barrel. The finished product lavishes the drinker with breadth and finesse. The lazy way this deep colored Port moves in the glass invokes romantic notions of cuddling up in a secluded cabin in the woods. Great with chocolate desserts and treats or by itself. It should last another five years or more. Detail   More Consilience reviews 100% Zinfandel. Aged 48 months in 80% used French oak and 20% used American oak. Zinfandel is THE grape of California. Initially thought to be of Italian origins, its ancestry has been traced to the Crljenak grape (pronounced: Tsurl-YEN-ack, according to Michael Heim, Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at UCLA) of Croatian origins. Recent DNA analysis demonstrated this and disproved previous beliefs that it originated from the Primitovo grape. Zinfandel and Primitivo are very closely related and efforts are under way to make the two grapes synonymous in the TTB's lexicon of grape varieties. However, the offerings we have tasted of both of these grapes were distinct. Zinfandel shows very fruity, jammy raspberry, blackberry, boysenberry, cranberry and black cherry - often with a prickly or briary note which was not present in the Primitvo offerings we tasted. Cinnamon and Licorice may also be seen. It has come a long way since its usage as the core of California 'jug wines' and some great varietal Zinfandel wines are now being produced. Port-styled wine can be made from just about any grape. In the making of fortified wine, alcohol (typically brandy) is added to the wine before fermentation ends, the fermentation process stops and the resulting wine is sweet because of residual sugars. If the alcohol were to be added later (typically when fermentation is close to being finished or has completed), the wine will be dry and the result is called Sherry. Traditionally, Port is rich, with alcohol levels generally in the 18% to 20% range and made from a combination of eight traditional Port varietals: These are: Mourisco, Sousao, Tinta Amarela, Tinta Barroca, Tinta Cao, Tinta Roriz, Touriga Francesca and Touriga Nacional. The Dry Creek Valley AVA is Sonoma County and while our focus is on Central Coast wines, we wanted to feature this win for its merits as well as to showcase Brett Escalera's wine making abilities. The Dry Creek Valley AVA has some 6,000 acres of vineyards growing Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chenin Blanc, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc, Syrah and Zinfandel. These are planted both on the valley floor and on the slopes. The area was initially settled by French and Italian immigrants in the late 1800s. The soils and climates of the valley floor and the hills are two separate terroirs. The valley floor is subject to coastal fogs and their cooling effects. The slopes tend to rise above the fog line and tend to experience warmer temperatures. The Zinfandel planted there thrives and has brought the AVA much recognition. The 2002 year saw a large total crop of 3.1 million tons of wine grapes, according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture. A long and dry growing season of mild temperatures gave the fruit extended time to develop complexity and depth. In addition, minimal heat peaks allowed the grapes to develop high acid levels. Paso Robles wines grapes were expected to produce excellent, concentrated and balanced wines. In Sonoma, the growing season was also long and dry after the rains ended in January. Zinfandel grapes were reported to be showing showing a great deal of color and concentration. Consilience Winery has been making wine since 1997, but was formally founded in 1999. A partnership of two couples, Tom and Jodi Daughters and Brett and Monica Escalera, they have been making wines "loosely focused around the typical Rhône varietals" ever since. Their philosophy is to create wine with distinct expression of regional characteristics. Consilience wines are big and bold, typically offering rich aromas and robust fruit with, distinct varietal characteristics, good structure and early approachability. The winery is not an estate winery. In this business there are two ways to make wine: grow the grapes yourself or buy them from other growers. Certainly, the latter allows for greater freedom and a broader range of wines for a winery's line up. But your wines better live up to the reputation of the vineyard. Consilience is well positioned in this respect. Winemaker Brett Escalera brings his own skills and experience from his ongoing tenure at Fess Parker Winery, where he has been making wine since 1996. Not only is Brett's experience at Fess Parker an asset, but his connection to Fess Parker Winery grants Consilience access to Fess' vineyards where some of the best grapes in the area are grown. Color  5 points Nose  5 points Palate  4 points Finish  4 points Tannins  5 points Acidity  5 points Alcohol  5 points Aging potential  2 points Overall quality  9 points Back to top Rating Scale explained Search our wine reviews archive by: review date, vintage and winery.			Get the buzz: Wine reviews Great stories Interviews Wine education tools New content every month It's FREE! Click here
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