A neighbor had a range of different grape varietals at a backyard party last year. I tasted the Zinfandel grape and realized that it was the grape varietal that lined the south property line of the home I grew up in. There was something elemental to my appreciation of that wine, I thought.
That was before the season of good wines that began with my sampling of the Instant Wine Cellar. In the course of the last few months, I’ve lost my taste for the cheap unbalanced wines that I used to favor. I had a few bad super fruity Zinfandels recently, and I was ready to cut that varietal out entirely.
A bottle of Chacewater that I still had on hand provided me with some perspective. This wine is complex. The fruity Zinfandel character is balanced out with a lot of other smoky and spicy business. (Trying to describe these tastes, I understand why wine descriptions are always so absurd.) This is a good well-priced wine.