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Dusi Vineyard Four Vines Zinfandel 2004 Country: USA Region: California: Paso Robles Price Paid: $23.99 Date Tasted: July 4, 2007 ON THE NOSE: Wonderful, dense nose with clusters of ripe fruit – blackberry, strawberry, blueberry – hmm, you name it, just about any berry could be said to reside here. Lots and lots of black licorice lives here too, as does bayleaf, wet-rock, and spice. The spiciness is pleasant and poignant as it follows through to the palate and into the tannic experience. ON THE PALATE: DAMN this wine is good! The fruit flows freely on the palate with such a beautiful mouthfeel as to make you close your eyes in silent appreciation, and then comes the guttural “mmmmmm, yummmm!” The tannins in this wine are perfect for us, clean, elegant, and rich without being too much. The acidity is perfect too, especially welcomed here as a balanced change from some of the Italian wines we’ve sloshed down our throats lately. We started drinking this beauty only minutes after opening and it was really good then. Now, as it opens more, we get a strong toasted caramel flavor that is simply scrumptious. What is also so amazing in this wine is the dusty, earthy, wet-rock, leaky-faucet type of smell and taste that is incorporated so well into the fruit-pie assembly; this is not a sinuous route to travel as these distinct flavor profiles play so darned well together. Folks, this is a very good effort, and fun to boot. Now we’ve returned from the 4th of July fireworks with anticipation of enjoying the rest of this bottle, and it doesn’t disappoint, it just keeps getting better. A nice spicy black-pepper explodes in the mid palate and the mouthfeel is even more luscious than earlier: creamy, smooth, and thick. This is how Zinfandel ought to be, a total pleasure for the nose and the palate. Fruit, spice, fruit, wet earth and fruit and spice, in harmony. The finish is long and surprisingly less fruity than anticipated, but this is yet ANOTHER thing Darcey and I really love about this special Zin. Our thanks, once again, go out to Gary Vaynerchuk for recommending such an enjoyable wine. At $24 it won’t be a mid-week quaffer, but when you deserve something special, this one fits the bill nicely. Kudos! (Click here for an explanation of our ratings ...) Our Rating: 92 Would we drink it again? You bet! Would we buy it again? If we could find it again we would certainly buy another bottle to enjoy. Visit the Four Vines Website: Four Vines About the Paso Robles Region The Paso Robles wine region is located halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco in the area known as the California Central Coastal region. Paso Robles is located approximately 20 miles from the Pacific Ocean. The Santa Lucia Mountain Range causes the climate to provide nearly perfect growing conditions. Paso Robles is known for its hot days and cool nights. The most prevalent varieties of grapes produced here are: Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Syrah and Merlot. Drive any Paso Robles backroad in spring, and you remember why you love California. Here are the rolling hills, deep green at this time of year with firecracker flashes of oranges and purples from poppies and lupine. Cattle graze the hills — after all, ranching was king in this part of San Luis Obispo County for generations. And there are wide-spreading oaks — the Spanish didn't name this "oak pass" for nothing. But in between the oaks and the pastures are vineyards, just leafing out, running with geometric precision across the sinuously curving landscape. Paso Robles has become one of California's most exciting wine regions. Ten years ago, there were perhaps 35 wineries here. Today there are more than 170. And the wines they make are garnering increasing acclaim. But Paso Robles — call it simply "Paso" if you want to sound like a local — is also a wine region that holds to its own particular style. Paso Robles is the wine country for people who like great dining and welcoming inns, but also like open roads and no crowds, who want to talk with the winemaker in the tasting room, who still — and we know who we are — have to practice a couple of times before asking for "Viognier." A wine region for the rest of us.