Deny it all you want, size matters, when it comes to ZIN. If you fall in that ever-growing camp of bigger the better Zinfandel disciples, this one is, how shall we put it, about TEN TIMES the impact one would expect from its modest price. It’s that good old wave that gets you when you least expect, lifts you ten feet in the air tumbling upside down with dizzying acrobatics, aromatics, flavonoids and all . Damn, we can’t even write or think straight under its spell. Add the sub-$20 deal factor and we’ve got ourselves a sell-out candidate. Is there such a thing as too much of a BIG ZIN around? Not in our book!

Whatever you do, don’t get a stain with this Zinfandel, it’s blue-purple-red at once and darker than ink. A sensational bouquet of black and red wild berries, cherries, violets, plum sauce, and mulling spices hit the nose up first. Rich in the mouth and concentrated, with great balance for its size, well-endowed, chewy, deliciously pure, vibrant. The lavish full-bodied richness of this concentrated, luscious, mouth-filling Zin seems to last a lifetime on the sweet fruit bomb of a finish. For the carnivores out there, a garlic and rosemary studded roast leg of lamb will work, or a big pot of veggie curry with a thousand spices, if meat is not your thing.

Back in 2007, Random Ridge winemaker and proprietor Bill Hawley, aka Agent Hombre was one of the first-ever to be featured by The Wine Spies. Yet don’t let the snow-covered vineyard surfer Bill or his playful names and labels fool you, we’re talking world-class wines here. Always exclusives and always destined to sell-out, we also continue to always be, after all those years, utterly puzzled by how these exemplary wines come with such incomprehensible deals. We invite you to visit the winery website for a long, long list of previous accolades, and if you scroll all the way to the bottom, you’ll even find a Wine Spies review from back when!