Rabbit Ridge runs a beautiful winery in Paso Robles, California with Mediterranean style architecture and decor. They produce a number of different varieties of wine that sell for affordable prices. They have also recently started producing olive oil, a trend I’ve seen from a few other wine producers as well.
Rabbit Ridge produces a couple different Zinfandels bit we only tried the most affordable one, the Central Coast Barrel Cuvee Zinfandel. Whew, that’s a mouthful!
This is a fairly typical jammy, cheap zinfandel. The nose has a powerful cedar aroma, plus some blackberry jam, tar, a hint of black pepper and some alcohol heat. The alcohol nature on the nose is not surprising with the alcohol level clocking in at 15%.
The palate is abundantly jammy. Seriously, if this were a little thicker I’d spread it on some toast. It’s like a really good boysenberry jam. Sometimes an overly jammy wine really turns me off, but the jam was good enough with this one (not overly sweet) that I could enjoy it. There’s also some pepper on the palate, but not much else. The tannins are decent, although it could be a bit more tannic. The acid level is good and the finish is medium long and slightly peppery.
I gave it an 85 and it could have done better with a little more complexity. But at $10.99 it’s a decent bottle of wine.
Wine: Rabbit Ridge Central Coast Barrel Cuvee Zinfandel
Variety: Zinfandel
Vintage: 2005
Alcohol: 15%
Rating: 85
Price Paid: $10.99
Find Rabbit Ridge Zinfandel with Snooth