The Desert Wine Guy - 2011 Estate Bottled, Lava Cap Zinfandel

2011 Lava Cap Estate Bottled Zinfandel

  Hello everyone. Today I would like to begin this review by letting you know that there is a new edition to The Desert Wine Guy family. I would like you guys to meet Max, he is an 11 week old German Shepherd puppy. Max will be guarding the Vineyards in the future when he gets older and hopefully not eating the grapes along the way. Max also has everything to do with how I came across the wine that I am reviewing. You see about three weeks ago we took a 9 hour drive to Oroville California to pick up Max from the breeder and had the delight of passing through some of the most beautiful country side along the way.  We made the long trip up and spent that night in nice hotel room in Paradise California. While I had heard that there were wineries in the general area I had promised Mrs. Desert Wine Girl that we were only going up to get Max because she was concerned about getting back home so the kids would be able to get sleep for school (I know huh) for school so we did not have time to stop at any of them. On the way back we stopped at a Gas Station in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and while the family was using the rest room I started wondering if this place sold any wines made in the area. Well, guess what I found while I was looking around? Yep, a few bottles of our review wine, the 2011 Estate Bottled, Lava Cap Zinfandel. Here was now my opportunity to try one of those wines and keep my promise at the same time. The price of the wine was $18.45 and so I bought a bottle and we headed home. Almost as soon as we got in the car a little voice in my head told me to get at least two bottles. I even told Mrs. Desert Wine Girl "watch, the wine will be great and I won't be able to find it anywhere". Here is a spoiler alert, I was right on both counts. I just figured we had spent enough money on the trip and that one bottle would simply have to do. So we get home and a couple of days later I open this wine to review it and after about 10 minutes tasting it I immediately knew that I was going to need to buy more of this wine. I later punched it up in a search engine and found that it is no longer available.....anywhere...except for a little Gas Station 9 hours away. I started kicking myself for not buying the last two bottles. Well, it's too late now i'll just have to move on so let's now learn a little about the Vineyard.

Max - The Vineyard Protector

  The Lava Cap Winery ( http://www.lavacap.com/) is located in Placerville California high in the Sierra Nevada foothills which to my surprise is also an American Viticultural Area (AVA). The lava Cap (named for the volcanic debris flow) Winery is located along what is called the Apple Hill Wine Trail (http://applehill.com/wineries/) and includes 7 wineries. It is my understanding that the Lava Cap Winery is very dog friendly as well. Who knows Max might even visit one day. The winery was founded by the Husband and Wife team of David & Jeanne Jones. Although David unfortunately passed away in 2008 the winery is still in the Jones family with Charlie & Noreen Jones at the Helm. Vines were first planted in 1981 while the winery itself opened in 1986. Today the estate vineyards are comprised of 60 acres of vines and over 11 different wine-grape varietals. The property sits at an elevation of 2,400 to 2,800 feet above sea level. Now that we have learned a little about the Vineyard, lets get into the heart of this review and see what the wine is all about.

Jones Family

 

  On the pour the wine was rather light in color to the eye, almost like a Cherry soft drink only not thick with nasty High Fructose Corn Syrup. The wine also sat in the glass the same way as well, very light Red in color. Now, I have had many great Zins in the past that showed in the glass the same way this wine is and so the color did not put me off in the least bit as these wines ended up being really great wines in the end. I was rather excited to taste this wine and I hoped that this would be one that I would enjoy as well. As is customery with the varietal, this wine came in at fairly high Alcohol level of 14.9%. Let's move ahead now and talk about the Bouquet and what I thought of it.
  Bringing the wine to my nose I picked up the moderate sense of Black Pepper as there should be in this varietal. There was also a pretty decent note of Cocoa as well as a nice light note of Raspberries that were on the end of the Bouquet. There was also a small note of Oak mid Palette but nothing to dominate the other notes as this is not an oakey style wine. So.....now on to the tasting of this gas station bought wine.

  Moving onto the Palette and how this wine came across, or presented itself to me. I must say right off the bat that having already tasted this wine I will jump forward for a moment and lead off this section with the following three words....."oh my gosh". Going backwards now I will tell you that Black Pepper is certainly the first thing that you will taste when drinking this wine. As on the nose however, don't worry because on one hand this Black pepper is not overpowering but on the other hand it is on the front Palette and is ultimately super pleasant. This is a Zinfandel for people who like varietals such as the Tempranillo & Syrah. There are also semi soft yet distinctly noticeable Tannins that are just perfect and the wine is certainly ready to drink in that aspect. Following up on these Tannins I will tell you that they are are actually at a level that they are neither too soft nor too heavy nor are they overdone. What a super clean, polished wine and also one that is not overly soft rither. Moving on now to other notes let's talk about Blackberry. A deep Blackberry is picked up on the

Lava Cap Vineyards

Tongue and again is not domination as it is in some wines. Along with the Blackberry comes a rich Black Cherry fruit that comes across rather dark and deep. As I previously said, while the Oak is not dominating this wine that is not to say that it doesn't impact the Palette because it really does. There is a sort of warmth that comes from this Oak as the wine did sit in American and French oak barrels for 20 months and could not help but be noticed. There is also a nice semi dark note of Tobacco that I really enjoyed and found to not be overpowering but again just powerful enough to make an impact. Topping this wine off is ripe Jammy notes that express themselves on the palette in the form of a slighty fruity (jammy) but not offensive sugar note and that also seems to help in developing a contrast between the Tobacco and mellowing out of the Black pepper and oak as the notes come across the palette. It is now time guys to place a wrap on this review and give you some last thoughts as well as my rating of this wine so let's go ahead and do just that.
  Well......here we are wrapping this review up. Can a simple gas station bought wine excel in the taste and quality department? I don't know about these places sell some questionable wines (Yellow Tail) as a general rule of thimb but in my humble opinion this particular wine absouletely was an exception to that rule. I give the winemaker big props for putting this wine together. This wine was well thought out and it is apparent that a lot of knowledge and effort was put into the growing of the grapes and the making of this wine. On The Desert Wine Guy rating scale I happily give this wine 91 points.

Lava Cap Tasting Room

P.S - Before leaving I feel that I need to point two items of interest out. The first thing is I need to issue a word to the wise here. This is a powerful wine in the sense of Alcohol content and it really hit me hard. I ate a decent Lunch yet about 3/4 of the way through the bottle I had a fairly decent "buzz" and had to finish this review prior to finishing the bottle as I usually do.Point number two is that I contacted the Lava Cap winery on February 25th and requested assistance from them in purchasing some more of this wine. As of  the publishing (March 7th) of this article I have not had any response at all from the winery. This is a large strike in the area of Customer Service as far as I am concerned.
 
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