Three Cheers for Four Vines

The guys at Four Vines are not like everyone else — intentionally. When their winery was a start-up, back eight or so years ago, they departed from the herd of heavy, oaked-up whites to make one of California’s first un-oaked Chardonnays. Their Zinfandels, which were their signature wines back then, were regionally specific and showcased regional flavors, instead of being all jammy-pruney-blocky like a lot of California Zin.

I was pleased recently to revisit Four Vines through an online tasting of current vintages. Here’s what I thought.

Pineapple.

The 2011 Four Vines Naked Chardonnay is all about pineapple. The nose is tropical and bright, and the first sip zings across the palate with luscious tropical fruit balanced by crisp natural acidity. This stuff never comes near a barrel, so there’s no heavy wood or vanilla flavors.

But wait! There is a nice tapioca creaminess that comes through near the end and rounds out the mouthfeel. I did a little research and yes, the wine did make a passing acquaintance with malolactic fermentation (you know, that secondary fermentation that transforms green-apple-y acids to milky-creamy acids). That little bit of ML apparently toned down that intense acid created by the super-cool weather during the summer of 2011.

I liked this wine, and my husband, who likes those over-the-top New Zealand whites, liked it too. I’d call this a crowd-pleasing, well-balanced, fun summer white.

The 2010 Four Vines Truant Zinfandel seems to be trying really hard to be a bad boy, but I’d have to say:

Not.

Truant Zin is not jammy, not prune-y, not block-y, and not hard to drink. In fact, it was really easy to drink a bunch of it with my Seared Ahi Tuna. Who would have thought?

Truant Zin is also not 100% Zin. Actually, it barely beats the 75% needed to be labelled Zinfandel, and includes a healthy dose of Syrah and a splash of Petite Sirah, Barbera and Sangiovese. Really? Who thought of that blend? But it works beautifully.

I really like the dominant blueberry and blackberry flavors that are forward, but balanced by good natural acidity (is that the Italian varietals strutting their stuff?). This red is relatively light on its feet, with a hint of spice to make it just a little bit edgy, and is a great food wine. In fact it may need to make an encore appearance next time I make red sauce (that’s spaghetti sauce to you non-Italians).

Paniza, Spain

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