Saddle Up For The Rancho Zabaco 2007 Zinfandel

Sonoma Valley is renowned for its many fantastic Zinfandel offerings. The Valley’s climate and the winemaking families that have built the region to a near rival of neighboring Napa Valley take great pride in the many varieties of Zin they produced each year. And the Valley holds particularly fond memories for me as well as it is where I was lucky enough to wed my amazing wife in the summer of 2007.

And it is that year’s vintage – 2007 – that the winemakers of Rancho Zabaco have done a fine job producing for the everyday wine connoisseur. The blend of 90.4% Zinfandel, 6.1% Petite Sirah and 2.5% Syrah has an unmistakable jammy flavor that is entirely enjoyable right out of the bottle. After a few sips, the unmistakable flavors of boysenberry and blackberry begin to come through to finish off the wine nicely. Be forewarned, this is a certifiable “monster zin” – meaning the alcohol content is substantially higher than most other wines. In the case of the 2007, it is nearly 15% alcohol and if that doesn’t get you to the stores on a cold winter night I don’t know what will.

Alcohol content aside, this is not an overly powerful Zin. This is a smooth, slightly fruit forward wine that would go wonderful with a nice chicken dish or an afternoon barbeque. When shopping for this particular offering, be sure to take careful note of the “Sonoma Heritage Vines” bottling versus the other labels they offer as they can be 25 to 30% more expensive.

At $12 per bottle it could be argued that it is priced a bit higher than it should be for the quality, however, if you like a mellow Zinfandel with dark berry flavors and a heaping load of alcohol, the 2007 Rancho Zabaco fits the bill.

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