In Fall of 2008, Ryan and I had an amazing meal at Tra Vigne in Napa Valley. The wine of choice for the evening was a 2005 Frog’s Leap Zinfandel. If you are not familiar with Frog’s Leap, they are a totally organic and self-sustaining winery located in the heart of Napa. Ry actually had a chance to hear the founder of Frog’s Leap speak at Viticulture 2006 about how he got his start in wine making (by stealing grapes from Stag’s Leap). When we visited Napa last fall, we had hoped to tour the Frog’s Leap winery but were not able to secure a spot on the very popular Frog’s Leap tour.
In lieu of our tour, we felt obligated to enjoy a bottle of Frog’s Leap Zinfandel with our meal. As an appetizer, we had a wood-fired pizza with figs and gorgonzola. The remainder of the meal could be an entire post on its own, but suffice it to say that we spent the latter part of our evening on the Tra Vigne patio under an arbor of grape vines savoring the remainder of our zin.
It should come as no surprise that when, on a recent trip to Indianapolis, we spotted a 2002 Frog’s Leap Zinfandel in a small wine store we didn’t think twice about taking it home. Knowing that the bottle was begging to drunk, we enjoyed it on a Tuesday evening with bison steaks, a fresh tomato and basil salad and some oven roasted fingerlings. We decanted the wine about an hour prior to eating and we each took a small sample. It was good, but we knew that it would only get better. When dinner hit the table an hour later and we were ready to give the wine our second shot, the nose on the pour alone was enough to tell us that it was worth the wait.
Although this ‘02 Zin didn’t have the vibrant, deep purple color of so many younger Zinfandels, it still held its own displaying a deep and soft ruby tone. Buttery, yet slightly reminiscent of tart fruit on the nose, it is certainly a more subtle example of the wide array of Zinfandel wines produced in California, likely due to its age. On the tongue this wine is still primarily fruit-forward. Plums, cherries and figs dominate the mouth. However, the second sip and subsequent finishes tease the palette with just the slightest hint of fresh sage and aged asiago. A playful contrast between young and old.
As I glance back through this review, I realize that I have spent more time reflecting on the memory our first experience with this wine than of the actual 02 bottle. It’s not that the 02 isn’t great, because it is. The memory is brings back is better, though, and in that place and time, almost any wine would have been memorable.