Ridge Zinfandel Blend Sonoma County Three Valleys 2009

An absolutely beautiful Zin, and a must-have for restaurant wine lists. Itrsquo;s pure and complex in blackberries, cherries, cola and mocha, with wonderful spices erupting all the way through, and the most elegant silky texture. What a great job.

A blend of ten vineyards with an emphasis on zinfandel, this wine includes small amounts of petit sirah, syrah, grenache and carignane. The 2007 vintage is dark and unevolved, carrying a lot of black fruit and the warmth of alcohol. Itrsquo;s a simple red to decant for fennel sausage.

Ridge's Three Valleys bottling is a field blend, consisting mainly of Zinfandel. It's a hearty, full-bodied red wine, dense with black fruit and chocolatey tannins.

One of the friendliest Ridge zins wersquo;ve tasted in a long time, this is exuberant and focused on fresh black cherry flavors. It has a cool, foresty feel to balance the tannins and their lasting spice. Give those tannins anything meaty, especially slow-smoked ribs.

The 2008 Three Valleys is 74% Zinfandel, 11% Petite Sirah, 5% Carignan, 4% Mourvedre, 3% Syrah, and 3% Grenache. Perhaps I should hold this review back for my Zinfandel report, but it seems to have enough Rhone Ranger grapes in it to include. Moreover, I really like the wine. Dark ruby, with loads of berry fruit and spice, as well as a hint of pepper, the wine is medium-bodied, spicy, and earthy, with some background oak. It is an attractive wine to drink over the next 2ndash;3 years.

Thrifty consumers will no doubt get a juicy charge from the 2004 three Valleys, a 15,000-case proprietary blend of 68% Zinfandel, 11% Carignane, 10% Syrah, and the rest Petite Sirah and Grenache. A pretty, elegant wine with lush raspberry and black cherry fruit, a seductive texture, medium body, 14.1% alcohol. and beautiful integration of acidity, wood, and tannin, it should drink well for 2ndash;3 years.

Medium-bodied with flavors of black cherry, and currant. The strong Zinfandel presence adds spice to the toasty finish as well as plenty of lush and upfront fruit.