I’ve been drinking so many inexpensive wines from South America and Spain (under $15 that I call “drinkers”), that I’ve been buying from wine.com; I haven’t had a whole lot to recommend lately. The other night though, I opened a Napa Zin and it was outstanding. Terrific nose with fruit that wasn’t over the top. It has a good fruity pallet you find in most Napa Zins, but it also had some spice and smoke with it at the same time. It wasn’t the typical Napa over-extracted jammy fruit that Parker likes either, just nice crisp clean fruit. It’s high in alcohol (15.8%), but you’d never know it. The wine just hid it well and I would have pegged it between 13.5 and 14%. A little spendy, but I still recommend it to anyone who likes zins.

The wine is from Klinker Brick Winery. It’s their “Old Ghost” vintage…2005. $37.00 http://www.klinkerbrickwinery.com/old_ghost_old_vine_zinfandel.htm

I have six more on order……