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Mission Codename: Golden Grist for the Mill

Operative: Agent White

Objective: Verify reports of Adobe Road’s latest Gold Medal Zinfandel

Mission Status: Accomplished!

Current Winery: Adobe Road Winery

Wine Subject: 2005 Zinfandel

Winemaker: Franc Dusak

Backgrounder:

Our operatives know that Adobe Road makes an exceptional Zinfandel. This vintage is no exception. This Zin is made with some of the best fruit available, specifically grapes from the famous Grist Vineyard (Turley and Bradford Mountain) in Sonoma’s Dry Creek Valley.

Wine Spies Tasting Profile:

Look – This wine is dark garnet and purple with excellent clarity, a bright luminescent sparkle and slow slender legs. Upon uncorking this wine, large tartaric acid crystals were present on the cork (a normal occurrence in exceptional wines).

Smell – Profound and youthful, but also clean aromas of fruit including ripe raspberries, and cherries layered upon a cedar base with a hint of fennel and caramel. As this wine opens a tiny herbaceous bramble brush component reveals itself.

Feel – This wine is medium-bodied and very smooth with fine medium tannins, clean acidity with a peppery tang on the tip of the tongue.

Taste – Both tart and ripe raspberries lead off this fruit-forward, but the fruit is well balanced and integrated with toasted cedar, ripe plum flavors and a touch of white pepper at the back of the palate.

Finish – The finish is smooth and rich, leading off with its ripe plum fruit backed by its cedar and spices.

Conclusion – In Adobe Road’s latest Gold Medal Zinfandel you get a wine that not only quintessentially Zin but also a wine with tremendous elegance that will appeal to even the most discerning palates. This wine has the subtlety of an Pinot with the flavors you’d expect from a Zin. Overall, an exceptional effort and in our humble opinion, worthy of its many accolades.

Mission Report:

(republished from Agent Red’s first encounter with Adobe Road Wines)

I love my missions to France. The wine, the climate and the food all seem to agree with me.

On a recent mission to the French village of Anjou in the Loire Valley (the region in France best known for Cabernet Franc, Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin Blanc wines), I was tipped off by a local asset that winery owner and racing legend Kevin Buckler was staying in a hotel neighboring my own.

He was in France for his annual appearance at the world famous auto race, 24 Hours of Le Mans. Kevin and his team drive the incredible Porsche GT3. Kevin is a world-class driver, and he and his team have racked up wins at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona (2002) and the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans (2002), an overall win at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona (2003), and the title of Porsche World Cup Champion in 2002.

Kevin’s winery, Adobe Road, had been under light surveillance for a few months already and Central Command was preparing to send an Agent to investigate – but I got my own once-in-a-lifetime chance to meet Kevin in his racing element, and Central Command approved my impromptu mission and I extended my stay in France.

I am enough of a Porsche fan to have my own sights set on a 2008 Cayman S. Since I had the brochure with me on my travels I used it as a prop, taking it with me to the hotel restaurant where Kevin and his team were having dinner. Having made friends with the Maître ’D earlier (I buttered him up with a bottle of Patrick Bodouin Anjou Villages Cabernet Franc ), I was seated next to their table.

I sat down and positioned the Cayman brochure so that it would be seen by Kevin or his crew. Then I ordered a bottle of great wine and waited. They took the bait and one of the guys at the table leaned over and said to me, “Hey, Buddy. That’s a nice car, but why not spring for a real Porsche and get a GT3?”

Now, I knew that the monster GT3 was their car, but I replied, “I leave that car to the professionals. It’s better suited to the racetrack, if you ask me.”

That opened up a great conversation about Porsches and about wine that went late into the night. Kevin waxed poetic about both and I enjoyed his passion on these two great subjects. As the evening was ending, Kevin’s crew chief invited me to visit pit row for a brief tour of their on-track operations. I jumped at the chance and enjoyed every second of it. At the end of the tour, I asked if I could ride along during a check-ride… and was nearly laughed off the track.

Once the crew chief wiped the tears from his eyes, he became very serious. He quickly escorted me away from the pit row, handed me a few bottles of Adobe Road wine, and pushed me toward the security exit. Oh, well. At least I tried. And, at least I walked away with an arm full of Kevin’s excellent wine.

Wine Spies Vineyard Check:

The location of the famous Grist Vineyard can be seen in this satellite photo.