Today’s Stephen & Walker 2011 Russian River Valley Zinfandel is an absolutely stellar wine that features something we don’t often see in California Zins: subtle elegance.

This newly released beauty features all the hallmarks of a great Zin: deep dark fruit, subtle spice, and hints of earthy terroir. What sets today’s wine apart is that each of these components are in near-perfect balance, without any one flavor overpowering the others.

We love pairing Zinfandel with meats prepared on the BBQ, but wines like today’s deserve something a bit more elevated. Rather than a pork shoulder slathered with BBQ sauce, we prepared ours with a delicious mustard ginger sauce - and had our minds blown.