Wine Review: 2006 Mauritson Rockpile Ridge Zinfandel

We were at the Seghesio tasting room and had enjoyed a large number of their wines and purchased a couple of bottles. In particular I enjoyed their Rockpile Zinfandel and raved about how absolutely delicious it was (look for an upcoming review here.) Someone mentioned how I absolutely had to go to Mauritson Vineyards and try their take on it.

The reason being Mauritson supplies the grapes for the Seghesio Rockpile Zinfandel. Never ones to turn down intrigue we made the short drive to Mauritson and tried all of their wine. I want to start by saying all of their wine is good, most of it is great. However the Rockpile Zinfandel was absolutely fantastic in the tasting room.

In the tasting room isn't enough for a review though, so I sacrificed my hard earned cash and liver and purchased a bottle to bring home. According to the winery tasting notes this wine is made from 9 distinct individual blocks of Zinfandel fruit at the Rockpile Ridge Vineyard. I am not entirely sure why that is so impressive but I decided to include in this review for you enjoyment. The next time you're out with friends and attempting to be pretentious about wine, mention that the Rockpile Ridge Zinfandel you had came from 9 different blocks.

Moving along the wine has immediate blackberry and raspberry notes in the bouquet. If you're unable to smell these when you put your nose over the glass; perhaps visit a physician to have your sense of smell checked out. When you put this in your mouth, and you will put it in your mouth a vivid rich fruity jam coats your senses. A lot of fruit, vanilla and black pepper are all present in this smooth as silk wine that leaves your palate feeling like it just received an exotic spa treatment.

We paired it with an assortment of cheeses, grilled portobello mushroom sandwiches and later some chocolate. My preference was the sharper cheeses with a wine this rich, but I'm not fond of mellow cheeses in general. I'd imagine that it would go well with any richly flavored food, or without any food at all.

I have had many, many great Zinfandels. This one stands out as one of the best I've had. Better get it fast though, they only made 357 cases.