Waugh Cellars – 2005 Zinfandel
March 30, 2009
The Facts:
The 2005 Waugh Cellars Zinfandel was sourced from a single vineyard. This wine is 100% Zinfandel. Waugh Cellars is located in Napa, but sources fruit for each varietal they make in what they perceive as the best environment for the particular grape. No surprise to us at Drink Dry Creek that they get their Zinfandel in Dry Creek Valley. This wine was aged in French oak for 18 months; 10% of it was new, the balance neutral. Alcohol is a Zinfully modest 14.5%. 450 cases of this 2005 Zin was produced and the suggested retail price is $38.
Gabe’s Take:
One of our goals is to cover not only the wines produced by Dry Creek Wineries, but also those of Vintners with the vision to source fruit there. This Zinfandel from Waugh Cellars is an example of that. The nose of this wine is big, loaded with berry jam characteristics, and underpinned with a touch of eucalyptus. Throughout the bright palate there is an immense amount of dark berry fruit, prominent vanilla and continued echoes of eucalyptus. Towards the end of the mid-palate, but before getting to the finish, a nice wallop of white pepper kicks in, followed by subtle black tea notes. All of this leads to a lengthy finish full of continuing berry as well as spice and earth characteristics. All the big, bold fruit is actually held in check by firm acidity. You might do better than pairing this wine with a pulled pork sandwich, but don’t count on it. The Waugh Cellars Zinfandel has BBQ written all over it.
What impressed me most about this wine is the fact that it deftly balances big, somewhat brawny fruit, with restraint and a touch of finesse. I went back to this wine after it had been open for a full 24 hours, and it improved from night one, always a good sign. Don’t rush to drink this one, it’ll age well in your cellar, but man oh man, it’s really delicious right now.
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Comments
2 Responses to “Waugh Cellars – 2005 Zinfandel”
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Just had the pleasure of attending a Waugh cellars wine tasting and dinner in Pointe Au Baril, Canada, a cottage region on Georgian Bay about 180 miles north of Toronto, Canada and was thoroughly impressed with the Waugh story and especially the Zinfandel and their Cabernet Sauvignon.
As someone who is not that educated in the art of wine, I couldn’t agree more with your Zinfandel review in that it was very smooth and everyone at our table agreed that this is a wine that was most pleasant and as your put it “delicious”. If we could ever get this Waugh wine through our liquor control board here in Ontario, Canada, we all felt it could become a mainstay to our wine diets. I guess we will just have to drink it when we visit the USA.
What made the experience even more rewarding was to see the passion that both Ryan and his wife Crystal had for producing great wines and this was very evident throughout the evening to the 60 or so assembled guests. I look forward to learning and seeing more this and other wines when we visit Napa soon.
D. Wright
Toronto, Canada
David,
Thanks so much for the kind words an taking the time to check out our site. Have fun when you visit Napa. If you need any recommendations, just shoot me an e-mail.