Day 14: 2012 Blackstone Winemaker’s Select Zinfandel

Guest post by Robin Shreeves.

Blends of domestic red wines are “friendly, cheap, and easy to drink,” Lettie Teague wrote in the Wall Street Journal earlier this year. Red blends are highly sought after, and the momentum of their popularity adds up to a “seemingly unstoppable trend.” Teague also pointed to two variables that are lurking in the background of mass-market red blends, namely bulk wine sources and an additive called Mega Purple that makes cheaper reds darker and sweeter. (Thanks to Zach Sussman for pointing me to this reference.)

Today’s guest post by Robin Shreeves homes in on a Zinfandel-based red blend that’s both adaptable to a a variety of foods and robust enough to stand up to one dish in particular. — Cathy Huyghe

My sons definitely eat like teenage boys, but it would be nice if they had similar tastes. They do, as we all do, love pizza, but they don’t like pizza from the same pizza parlor. They also can’t agree on a place to get burgers, although they both love burgers. One loves lasagna with red sauce, the other with white. There’s one dish, though, that they both love — my French dip. I make it often, especially when the weather is colder.

It’s so flavorful that it needs a wine that isn’t going to get lost with it, and tonight I grabbed a wine from the local shop that I had never had before but I see everywhere — a 2012 Blackstone Wine Maker’s Select Zinfandel from California, priced at $7.99, even at a shop that’s pricier than almost any other wine store around.

This wine is a blend of red grapes. The winery’s website lists the typical blend (as from the 2011 vintage) at 81% Zinfandel, 10% Syrah, 7% Petite Sirah, and 2% Cabernet Sauvignon. I imagine the 2012 is similar.

Cherry on the nose and on the palate predominate when the wine is first opened and poured straight from the bottle. I will usually decant a wine that is “tight” like this to help open it up and bring out all the flavors. All it took was pouring a glass-worth into my not-so delicate decanter (after breaking many delicate ones, I bought a heavy-duty dishwasher safe one for everyday use) to soften the cherry and bring out some spice and some juiciness.

This medium-bold wine definitely held it’s own with my French dip and was a worthy complement. I would buy it again for burgers or spaghetti with meatballs. I’d even serve this blue collar wine to guests.

Quick Background Note: The Blue Collar Wine Guide is a 30-day, 30-wine experiment that looks at some of the world’s most popular, consumer-friendly wines. The idea is to take off my wine-writer shoes and stand instead in the shoes of Jane-and-Joe-in-front-of-a-wall-of-wine. Thank you for reading today’s post!