Toucan Wines Estate Zinfandel 2005

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Starting at: $30^.60

2 Reviews

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Winery:

Toucan Wines

Varietal:

Zinfandel

Region:

USA > California > San Luis Obispo County > Arroyo Grande Valley

Type:

Red Wine

Color:

Drink Dates:

Drink Now - 2013

UPC:

 

User Tags:  stone fruits, (tree) fruit, cherry, resinous, oak, spices, berry fruit, wild, nose, garnet 

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What to Expect

Zinfandel is considered America's own great indigenous grape, even though its origins lie on the Adriatic coast. Planted throughout California and the Pacific Northwest, Zinfandel is at its best in warm regions with cooler temperatures during harvest. The wines can range from off-dry Rosés, White Zinfandels, and light bistro styled wines, to big, rich powerful wines - even luscious wines for dessert bottling. The flavors range from plummy to raspberry, although deep blackberry fruit and brambly spice tones are most common.

Winemakers Notes

The Wine: I attended ZAP this year in search of Zinfandel not imitating port. I found many of the latter, with alcohol a point or two shy of Port's 18%, and more sweet fruit than a jam jar. Cocktails, these. Wine shooters. By contrast, Toucan provided a pleasant respite for those who enjoy wine with food. This wine was my favorite of the day – the feminine elegance I want at my table complimented by enough taught, sinewy athleticism to avoid being effete. Winemaker Doug Timewell adds an 11% dollop of muscular Petite Sirah for color, depth and aroma enhancement. Look for spice and dark fruits and read more...licorice and a subtle pepper spice that I particularly like. In my early wine days, I sought exaggerated pepper spices in my Zins. Today such wines make me sneeze. Do our senses get more attenuated to subtlety as we age? Accolades For the record, we selected this wine for our club members long before these awards were announced. And I know you come here because you trust our recommendations, not because we cater to ratings and awards and reviews. But it IS nice to see when the judges get it right once in a while! ;-) Note, 4 out of 5 judges must be in agreement to award a gold: Gold Medal - California State Fair Wine Competition (2007) Gold Medal - Los Angeles International Wine Competition (2007) Gold Medal - Orange County Fair Wine Competition (2007) Gold Medal - Dallas Morning News Wine Competition (2007) The Winery: This wine is popular at Tastes of the Valleys, our first affiliated wine bar, located in Solvang, CA. During a recent promotional appearance there, Winemaker/Owner Doug Timewell talked about the odd name for his winery. It all began as a hobby in 1992, when their first wine was fermented in two large cans, containers that provided the inspiration for the name, Two Can Wines. Years later, when searching for an identity for their first commercial vintage, it became today's "Toucan Wines". But no tale of Toucan is complete without mentioning Doug's mentor - "Benny" Dusi - the 72 year-old descendant and current caretaker of the Dusi Vineyard, Paso Robles' most famed grower of Zinfandel grapes. While still employed in high-tech sales and dabbling in wine, Doug was introduced to Benny through legendary winemaker, Paul Draper of Ridge Winery, whose Zins helped make Dusi Vineyard famous. To prove his sincerity to this notoriously recalcitrant man, Doug selected two aged Cabernets from his collection and drove down to meet him. During this meeting, Benny referred to Doug's Porsche as his "Volkswagen" and returned the gift wines saying "let me know if you find any old Zin". Still, the meeting was a success, and it changed Doug's life. Benny provided Zinfandel cuttings from his family vineyard and taught Doug the nearly lost art of tending head-trained vines, a training method that produces low quantities of high-quality grapes. In Doug's case, he is happy to sacrifice as much as 25% of the possible yield in favor of the 100-300 cases his vineyard produces each year (the latter in the best of years, such as this 2005 Zinfandel). Cheers! Dave Chambers    (hide)

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