'02 Ridge Zinfandel Late Picked Pagani Ranch

[Dan Donahue]

Would that more producers followed Ridge's approach of informative labels. Not only are all the varieties disclosed (Alicante Bouschet 7%, Petite Sirah 4%), the back gives significant insight into challenges presented by the vintage and the winemaker's response. As expected this is a big wine. Still it has enough acidity and structure so that neither the fruits (tasty red berry) nor the alcohol (27.4% sugar at harvest, RS .2% guarantees this will not be a shy wine) are out of balance. Languid finish. Bottle age helped as did the match of duck with spicy barbeque sauce. Drinking well now.

A fun experiment, but no replacement for the Geyservilles (a recent '91 is one of my WOTY)