The Climber 2010

As it becomes more and more difficult to find new Zin that I haven't tried yet, I am looking now into blends which contain zinfandel grappe. This one, The Climber, a blend of 5 different grappes including 50% of zin, was very nice for $12.99 at Berkeley Bowl. Not as heavy as an 100% zin, it is appropriate for pairing with many type of food from BBQ meat to cheese. While blends are most common in France, they are still rare in California but it seems the way to go, offering winemakers a wider range of options to craft complex and delicate wines (instead of using chemicals!). I will definitely explore more of these blends in the future.

Costco Zin Grandmere 2009

While I had a bad experience with wine bought at Costco (see previous post), I have to say that they are selling some very good wines at very good prices.
They are even selling wine under their own label "Kirkland" which was worth a try. Here I tried the old vine Zinfandel from Amador county named 'Grandmere'. The price was somewhere between $10 and $15 which in fact was a deal for the quality of this wine. It was a pleasant surprise and I will definitely get more of it next time I visit this store. More description on their blog.