First, let me say thank you to my friend Andrew for giving me this wonderful gift. Oddly enough, I traded him a bottle of wine that We had made at Vine Park Brewery.
This is the Zombie Zin 2007 Zinfandel. Made by Zombie Cellars, in Healdsburg, CA.
The warning label as per the surgeon general talks about impairing your ability to drive a car.
What it neglects to tell you is that it will impair you ability to think clearly, type coherently, and most of all, negotiate a flat hardwood surface (The Floor).
It boasts on the label a 14.9% alcohol content. I've had Vodka that had less alcohol in it. In fact, I've drank paint stripper that had less ability to kill brain cells. So what is it about Zombie Zin?
Well, I'm pretty positive, that this wine is made from Concentrate. Why would I speculate that? Well, because going back as far as I can find, the reviews have been incredibly broad for every year they've produced wine, and their reviews vary in description. Not to mention it says on the label, Rich in Concentrated Fruit Flavors.
There could be crayons in this stuff, and I'd probably never know it.
The color of this stuff is literally black blood red. Very pretty, very flattering. The aroma, very nice, very pleasant. Could I tell you what is in it? Well, grapes. I'm pretty sure there's grapes in there. Battery Acid? The enzymes from an electric eel, and I think perhaps a hefty dose of cayenne pepper, just for spite.
As a guy who likes a cheap bottle of wine, and I'm guessing that this batch wasn't exactly cheap to make, bottle, and of course ship, I have to wonder why it is that Chateau Diana vineyards would neglect to put their name on a bottle of wine, and give credit to Zombie Cellars?
You see, that's where this stuff is made, and I'm pretty positive that since its from concentrate, and not from freshly pressed grapes, they'd probably rather keep their name off of it. Now, how do you think it compares to 3 Buck Chuck?
Well, here's the thing. Sometimes you can uncork a bottle of wine that's 2 years old, and realize that this bottle simply is NOT ready to be drank. I pulled the cork, and when that hard smell of alcohol hit my nose, I knew immediately that this is the case.
Fresh pressed wines take time to create their character. Wine made from Concentrate...? Try about 3 years at the minimum for it to realize full potential, and that's only if the concentrate came from a good place, and wasn't a second pressing.
I'm willing to bet, if I were to rack 10 bottles of this 2007 Zombie Zin, and hold it til let's say October of 2010 at the earliest and then uncork one, I'd say that would be enough time for this wine to loose some of it's anger management problem, and develop the right kind of flavor.
Underneath the horrifically acidic taste, is a flavor of plum, and black currant that needs to be realized. The finish on this wine is reprehensibly bad, however, the aftertaste is actually quite pleasant. Which tells me that this wine has some growing to do in a cellar.
I'm not sure if Chateau Diana needed the cash this year to produce something else, but I think that if they are going to venture into the cheap wine from concentrate business, they probably should start by putting a halt to their shipments until the wine is actually ready to be served. Right now, this wine has all the potential in the world, but it won't be realized until about another year or so passes. It doesn't have a date when it was bottled, but I would wager that it was probably bottled late 2007. They sat on it for a year, thinking it was ready and then shipped it out the door.
I wish they'd waited.
At any rate, on my scale of 1 to 5, I give it a 1.5. The color, is beautiful. The flavor? Well... I'll buy another bottle and save it for next Halloween and revisit this post. The aroma was actually not bad, once you got past the alcohol burn. The packaging, Bleh... As a guy who can actually draw, I could have done better. The price? Well it was free, but I think it sells for about $8.00 a bottle at a couple of different liquor stores.
The thing is, for a Halloween Wine, where people are going to drink this and party, it's not a bad thing. I drink wine to enjoy it, not to get plowed off my behind. As it stands, one glass was enough to make me forget a decade of abuse at the hands of my parents. I'm not even sure I can remember my parents. Do you have an idea of how heavy duty this stuff actually is?
Seriously though. If you want to get absolutely trashed out of your mind, with One Bottle or less, THIS, THIS IS YOUR TICKET TO ZOMBIE LAND.
