Wine Guerrilla makes big bruisers. Huge wines with high alcohol levels. Normally, I steer clear of this wine style.
I must confess now that I was drawn to the brand name itself because I am a child of the seventies and I dreamt of running around Europe fighting injustices in my little black beret. Such are the innocent dreams of children.
But these wines have sucked me in and asked me to toss my preconceptions to the wind.
Wine Guerrilla focuses on one grape primarily, California's own zinfandel, and they do it well. Zinfandel is believed to have evolved from a Croatian grape, Crljenak and is kissing cousins to the Italian grape, primitivo as well.
These wines are unabashedly fruit forward and are just begging to be paired with barbecued ribs or a thick, homemade angus beef burger.
As an extra bonus they have beautiful, original artwork adorning their bottles.
Wine Guerrilla Forchini Vineyards 'old vine' Russian River 2007 Zinfandel $30
Gorgeous rich red zinfandel. Bursting with jammy blackberry fruit and plenty of black pepper spice to give it dimension. Goes just as well with after dinner dark chocolates as it does with grilled meats.100 year old vines.Unfined and unfiltered. 83% zinfandel, 17% petite syrah
Wine Guerrilla Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel 2007 $22
Like eating ripe berries on a summer's day. Delicious spicy, peppery notes give a nice lift to all that rich fruit. Unfined and unfiltered. 86% zinfandel, 6% malbec, 4% cabernet franc, 4% petite syrah and a splash of alicante bouchet.
3 comments:
Hi Amy-
I tasted these wines at the Zap dealie here and thought they showed restraint relative to some of the others Zins in the show. I liked 'em and liked the guy with a dream. Small batch, following his passion, what's not to like?
cool labels too
Amy,
We are the proud distributors of Wine Guerrilla, in Chicago and Illinois. Bruce is a gem along with his wines. We are loyal Chicago Bears Fanatics and tailgate every home game. Bruce has made it to a game every season for the past 4-5 years. We always have a crowd at each game, so if Chicago calls and the Bears are at home, we invite you to join us.
Amy-
I'll check these out. Like you, I rarely go for the biggies, but sometimes you find some that are full of a delicious that can't be denied!
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