Disclaimer: I received this wine as a sample.
As I see it, there are two primary benefits of having ones family living nearby – first, free, local babysitting. Second – an abundance of options with regard to holiday meals (ok, I’m sure there are other benefits to having family nearby). Although my son is out of the baby-sitting age range, we do take advantage of the multiple holiday meals.
As part of our Christmas holiday weekend, we participated in three family holiday dinners – one of the dinners, my wife and I hosted at our home. To compliment our dinner expertly prepared by my wife under my supervision, I opened a bottle of Benovia 2007 Zinfandel.
Other than Pinot Noir, I feel Zinfandel is the ideal ‘ol standby for holiday meals. I received this wine several months ago, but held this especially for our holiday meal.
I’ve tried a handful of Benovia wines, and have really liked each one of them so I had high expectations for theirs Zin. The grapes for this Zin came from the Cohn Vineyard, planted at the northern end of Russian River Valley in 1975.
Benovia 2007 Sonoma County Zinfandel
This is the ‘juiciest’ wine I’ve had in quite some time. Every sip reminded me of blackberry, blueberry and kirsch fruit gusher along with red licorice, plums and pepper. At 15.8% alcohol I expected more heat, but this wine was very well balanced and integrated. $38/bottle retail. Less than 200 cases produced.
Unfortunately this wine was such a crowd pleaser I was only able to have one glass. Drinking this wine surrounded by my family during the holiday made it even better.
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Drink What YOU Like 
Nothing better than a nice fruity “big” Zin!
This one sounds tasty… also like how it comes from the RRV!
Zin is one of the wines I put on my list of challenges for 2010.
Has not been on of my favorites, but recently found a couple that I really like. They were lighter or not as bold as ones I have been accustomed to.
The Benovia sounds like a logical next step in my accepance of Zin, however the limited quantity would make it difficult to find.
Have you tasted any Zins more like the Benovia and if you have which ones would you suggest?
The Benovia Zin is possibly the best in the world. I agree that limited supply makes it a special occasion wine. On a lesser scale try Courtney Benham Zin or Layer Cake Primitivo a/k/a/ Zin. But get on the mailing list for Benovia…it rocks!
Hi Scott. I’ve had the Layer Cake Primitivo (liked it), but haven’t had the C Benham… will have to add that one to my list. Cheers!
I just saw a bottle of this in my LWS, so now I’ll have to go back and grab it. It sounds delicious!
Hi Alleigh – thanks for stopping by! I hope all is well. Let me know how you like the Benovia Zin…
If you love a claret styled zin, bone dry, complex, with flavors of blackberry, plum, and a briary spicy finish then get to Benovia for their 2009 Zinfandel you will not be disappointed,