Frankly, I didn’t think I’d like this. So what happened when I tasted it? I was quite taken with its quality – a well-made, varietally-correct zinfandel for about $8 at most grocery stores. It’s hard to beat that (and proves, once again, not to pre-judge wine).
Unlike some zinfandels, the Smoking Loon wasn’t especially fruity. I’m beginning to think that lack of fruit is a function of the 2006 vintage in California, since this wasn’t the first time I’ve noticed it. But this was not a problem, since the wine was spicy and brambly –- just the way zinfandel should be. It’s a contender for next year’s $10 Hall of Fame. Serve this with barbecue, pizza and burgers.
Some wine notes:
• I wrote an article for the Star-Telegram about $6 wine that elicited quite a few emails from the paper’s readers, including several questioning my ability to judge wine. Let me know what you think.
• The top-selling wine brand in Texas, according to Nielsen data, is Yellow Tail. We bought $16.4 million worth of the wine in the 52 weeks ending May 31. That works out to one bottle for every seven or so Texans of drinking age. Texas’ Ste. Genevieve is sixth, with $9.5 million in sales. Llano Estacado is 20th, at $4.2 million. What’s perhaps more interesting is that 17 of the top 20 best-selling brands were American. The only imports were Yellow Tail and Lindemans (Australian) and Cavit (Italian).
