Review: 2006 Seghesio Home Ranch Petite Sirah

**Apologies, as I was not able to find a picture of Seghesio's 2006 Home Ranch Petite Sirah. Under the Grape Tree blog has a picture up, but since ZinfanGirl is cautious of photo theft & copyright infringement & blah blah blah, she figured she'd just link to the blog (and their review of the same wine) instead.**

There are two wines that ZinfanGirl can almost always peg on site: white Zinfandel, and Petite Sirah. Looking at this wine sitting in my glass, I see this is a fairly leggy wine, dripping slowly down the edges as I swirl it. It smells warm, the way pumpkin pie smells warm-- don't get me wrong, I am not saying this wine smells like pumpkin pie (although that actually sounds kinda yummy...). Maybe it's clove or cinnamon. Let's give it a taste, shall we?

Wow, what a body on this wine! The mid-palate is where it's at! The warmth of the nose also continues down my throat, but not in an unpleasant burning way. Tannins in the finish are just enough to be noticed but without the moisture-sucking-ness of, say, a Cabernet Sauvignon.

There is definitely a dark/bramble fruit presence but it takes a back seat to the "warmy" essence. It's a toasted spice of some sort-- I bet this would make for an interesting mulled wine if it weren't so heavy. And at 15.5% alcohol, definitely proceed with caution. ZinfanGirl is continuously amazed at how just a 1% - 2% increase in alcohol/volume can affect her body & brain (like the time ZinFanHubby brought a bottle of Seghesio's Venom to France. After having spent months drinking 12% alcohol/volume French wines, one sip of this 16+% sangiovese knocked me on my ZinfanAss).

Although I think this wine *could* be matched up with food, its unique flavors and luscious body make it a fine stand-alone wine. Thumbs up, Seghesio.

Review: Seghesio Marian's Reserve 2007 Alexander Valley Red Table Wine

It's been awhile since ZinfanHubby & I have cracked into a Seghesio. We received a club shipment not too long ago and while entertaining guests the other night, decided to pull one out. Our options were either the Marian's Reserve or a Four Vines; having recently opened a Four Vines, Seghesio won out (clearly there was a lack of ZinfanLogic here, as we are going to Templeton this weekend and will surely stop at Four Vines). C'est la vie & stuff.

34% Zinfandel, 33% Petite Syrah (it shows!) and 33% Carignane, this wine packs a punch at a whopping 15.5% alcohol/volume. OK, math lesson over. Maybe ZinfanGirl has become overly sensitive to alcohol over the years, but the boozy-burning scent comes through almost as strongly as the jam of the Zin. As mentioned, the wine looks like a PS: practically purple & inky (in fact, having saved the bottle, I notice a small drip down the white label and it is blue. No exaggeration). Tannins throughout the taste, but they don't suck the moisture out of your mouth too much. The finish is clean and smooth, with a touch of fruit. Drinking this wine makes me want steak. I can't really ID any specific fruit, but the fruitiness is definitely there. This wine is nice: nothing memorable, but that works both ways, yeah?

Clearly ZinfanGirl has *some* fond memories of Seghesio...

Gettin' some ♥ZinfanLove♥ at Seghesio- July '07 (thanks to my ZinfanFriend Lindsey for the pic!)