We took a lot of notes during this year’s ZAP Zinfandel Festival tasting. Our strategy is to taste at any tables where the winery is new to ZAP, plus we taste anything that’s over $40 a bottle. Then we usually end up tasting some other stuff here and there. Much of what we tasted was barrel samples and just-bottled wines that haven’t been released yet. There were a lot of really good wines but these were the standouts:

– Atelier 2004 Rockpile (I’ve never had a bad Rockpile wine)
– Robert Biale 2004 Black Chicken (almost always good)
– Bourassa 2004 Odyssey (we’ve liked many of their wines)
– Brown Estate 2004 Chiles Valley (also consistently good, a standout from last year)
– C.G. di Arie 2003 Southern Exposure, The Original Grandpere Vineyard (recently highlighted on a Chronicle Podcast, old vines and excellent)
– Charter Oak 2003 Napa/Sonoma (their Monte Rosso is also very good)
– Christie Estate 2004 Dry Creek Valley Barrel Sample
– Crushpad 2005 Teldeschi (this is a custom crush facility – not sure who actually made this wine but it was yummy)
– Dogwood Cellars 2004 Medocino Barrel Sample
– Frank Family 2003 Napa Valley
– Gamba 2004 Old Vine Moratto Vineyard (we bought a half-case of the 2003 last year and are loving it – will be released this Friday)
– Jessup 2000 Zinfandel Port (hard to find)
– Karmere 2004 Empress Daisy
– Mauritson Family 2004 Cemetary Vineyard, Rockpile Barrel Sample (will be released in June, quite excellent – very hard to get)
– Medusa 2003 Old Vine, Creeksie Block, Bar 49 Vineyard
– Meeker 2003 FroZin (their take on an eiswein)
– Moss Creek 2000 Late Harvest (very expensive at $70/bottle!)
– Moss Creek 2000 Reserve
– Moss Creek 2004 Wappo Camp Vineyard Barrel Sample
– Outpost 2004 Howell Mountain
– Pezzi King 2004 Late Harvest Estate
– Pezzi King 2004 Reserve
– Rotta 2004 Zinfandel Port, Giubbini Vineyard
– Saxon Brown 1997 Old Vine, Casa Santinamaria (they were pouring an excellent vertivle, 1997 through 2003)
– Sextant 2004 Wheelhouse
– Sextant 2004 Night Watch (Sextant got all the buzz this year – this was the first time they had ever even poured their wines at a public tasting)
– The Other Guys 2004 Pungerhead (available at Whole Foods, a nice inexpensive everyday wine)
– Tin Barn 2003 Gilsson Vineyard (liked this last year)
– Valdez Family 2004 Rockpile (the star of last year’s tasting – we just bought a case – May release, only a few hundred cases available)