Please join us in an extraordinary wine - Cline's 2003 Live Oak Zinfandel

After the celebration of family, the highlight of Father's Day at Casa Sparkly was a remarkable Zinfandel - Cline 2003 Live Oak.



Here's a link to their website page for this wonderful wine. http://www.clinecellars.com/store/index.cfm?fuseaction=productdetail&product_id=111

The link goes to their 2004 vintage, but it pretty well represents the 2003 that we had. This is a wine to be savored and experienced. It is complex in that decidedly Zin sort of way, with each sip rewarding you with a fresh nuance. The tannins are exactly what you'd want and the taste hints of fruit are extraordinary. Not mentioned in the 2004 description was a decided aftertaste of vanilla; very subtle, but definitealy there. Not cheap at $28 a bottle, it is well worth consideration for any special event. This is a real wine for grownups.

It sure made my Father's Day dinner memorable.

That and the chef hat with 'Chef Mikey" embroidered on the headband and presented to me by our beautiful one, SparklyJr.

We've been drinking this for the past few years because it's locally grown. Oakley is outside of the well known appellation areas like Napa but that part of Contra Costa county has a good climate for grape growing and good soil because it's near the delta.

Many of the orchards and vineyards have already been plowed over with house farms so it's great that Cline has helped promote the good quality vines in this area.

mostly from Contra Costa. Rosenbloom's another one who sorta specialize in Zins.

I've got a case of 2000 Cline Big Break that we'll be getting into next week when we have a house full of people, all of whom are foodies like we are. Have you ever had it? I thought it was quite remarkable and bought every bottle I could find. There's none left on the market, as far as I know. I had their 02 and 03 Big Break and it wasn't as good as the 2000 ... still terrific, but not up to the 2000.

This was about seven years ago and we got the "surely you're joking" look at a party when we popped the cork on an Oakley wine. But then, we're amateur wine fans, not true oenophiles. I don't recall Big Break but the spouse is the one who favors the zins and keeps track of them, not me.

One of the best things about living here is being able to see and understand some of the terroir influence. Rosenblum does use Contra Costa grapes.

Thomas Coyne in Livermore bottles Mourvedre grapes grown in Oakley. Interesting wine, not a big occasion bottle but nice.

...is the easy availability of an amazing array of inexpensive great wine. The 2004 Cline ancient vine zin got a WS 90 rating and costs $12.95 locally.

I'm a zin fan through and through. Cabs are great, and I love a good sirah vintage, but nothing lights up my palette like a big fruity zinfandel.

I'm a huge Zin fan. As you say, cabs are okay, but to me they're all kinda the same, with the variation in the subtle qualities of one against the other. Opening a Zin is like opening a present on Christmas morning. Huge fruit, lots of peppery spiciness, a complexity that changes even as you drink just one glass.

You're lucky to have it so cheap out there. Out here, there's little of interest below about $15 a bottle, and you really need to hit $20 to get a truly fun bottle.