Our blind tasting game—without the tasting! Can you identify a wine just by reading its tasting note? We post real Wine Spectator reviews. You use clues such as color, aromas, flavors and structure to figure out the grape, age and origin. Good luck!
Tasting Note: Retaining a sense of focus and polish, this robust red is jammed with black cherry and plum flavors, taking anise, dark chocolate and white pepper accents that build tension toward medium-grained tannins.
And the answer is...
Variety
Our polished mystery wine shows dark fruit, anise, chocolate and pepper notes with medium-grained tannins. Let’s figure out what it is!
We can begin by eliminating Cinsault, a grape that tends to make red-fruited wines with lower levels of acidity and accents of violets and tea.
While a Nebbiolo could show our wine’s medium-grained tannins, we are missing that grape’s significantly high levels of acidity, as well as its hallmark flavors like rose, violet and leather. Let’s move on.
Tempranillo can make reds with moderate levels of tannins, dark fruit and anise notes, which sounds right; unfortunately, our wine’s chocolate and pepper notes would be unusual for a Tempranillo. This grape has to go too.
While a Petite Sirah could show our wine’s dark fruit, chocolate and pepper notes, we would also expect far more body and higher levels of tannins and acidity from one of those reds. Maybe another grape works better?
Zinfandels are generally medium-bodied wines with moderate levels of tannins as well as dark fruit, chocolate, pepper and licorice notes. We have a winner!
This wine is a Zinfandel.
Country or Region of Origin
Zinfandel has a few footholds, but it is not a widely grown grape. For instance, it would be difficult to find plantings in France or Spain. A few wineries in Australia use Zinfandel, but the grape hasn’t achieved nearly as much prominence there as other varieties like Grenache, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon. Meanwhile, Zinfandel has a foothold in Italy … in a way. While “Zinfandel” doesn’t grow much there, its close relative (sometimes considered the same grape), Primitivo, is a leading grape in Southern Italy. In fact, both grapes are clones of a Croatian variety called Crljenak. Nonetheless, we would expect redder fruit and more savory characteristics from an Italian Primivito. So, ampelogrphy aside, we’re going to have to look elsewhere. Winemakers have harvested Zinfandel for more than a century in California, a major foothold for the grape (and home to many famed old-vine plantings); here, producers use Zinfandel to make rich, dark-fruited wines with pepper, chocolate and anise accents. Our choice is clear.
This Zinfandel is from California.
Appellation
We know that our Zinfandel is from California, so we can eliminate Australia’s Adelaide Hills, France’s Bordeaux, Spain’s La Mancha and Italy’s Taurasi. This leaves us with two California options: Cole Ranch and Russian River Valley. Located within Mendocino County, the Cole Ranch appellation grows a number of grape varieties, including Riesling, Merlot, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon. But this subregion is not well known for its Zinfandel. Meanwhile in Sonoma County, the Russian River Valley appellation is acclaimed for its Zinfandels (among several other wine styles). Russian River Valley is on the mark here.
This Zinfandel is from Russian River Valley.
Age
Our red’s fruit notes are still fresh and its tannins are still prominent, indicating this is probably a younger California Zinfandel. Let’s look at the Golden State’s most recent vintages to figure out our wine’s age, bearing in mind that many Zinfandel producers age their wines for a year or more in barrel. In 2022, Zinfandel’s key regions experienced some chilly yet dry early spring weather, but with rains later on in the year. The resulting wines are rich with dark fruit, licorice and chocolate notes and some hefty tannins. 2021’s growing season was warm (due to an ongoing drought) but there were moderate fall temperatures; that year’s Zinfandels are plump with red fruit, briar and smoke notes. California experienced extreme heat and the effects of wildfire smoke in 2020, and that year’s Zinfandels are zesty with strawberry, cranberry, coffee and tar notes. Of this group, 2022’s Zinfandels sound like what we’re looking for.
This Zinfandel is from the 2022 vintage, making it two years old.
Wine
This is the Bedrock Zinfandel Russian River Valley Carlisle Vineyard 2022, which scored 94 points in 2024. It retails for $50, and 150 cases were made. For more on California Zinfandel, read senior editor Tim Fish’s tasting report, “Hard Lessons,” in the Aug. 31, 2023, issue of Wine Spectator.
—Collin Dreizen, assistant managing editor
