We had the pleasure of attending a tasting of six premium zinfandels recently at The Still in Lincoln, Nebraska.  The identity of each wine was known in advance.  There were about 12 tasters in total.  Because the wines were not tasted blind per our normal Zinfanatic process, we are not publishing official rankings or ratings.  Still, we want to share some general observations.

The six wines tasted were:

1.  Ravenswood Belloni Zinfandel Russian River Valley (2007)

2.  Ridge Lytton Springs Dry Creek Valley (2007)

3.  Rosenblum Harris Kratka Zinfandel Alexander Valley (2006)

4.  Seghesio San Lorenzo Zinfandel Alexander Valley (2006)

5.  Storybook Mountain Vineyards Napa Estate Mayacamas Range Zinfandel Napa Valley (2006)

6.  Turley Dusi Vineyard Zinfandel Paso Robles (2007)

All of the tasters enjoyed all of the wines.  There was no consensus among the group as to a single favorite.  The Ridge, Rosenblum, Seghesio, Storybook and Turley wines were each selected as the favorite of at least one taster.  The Ravenswood, while still a good wine, was clearly the least favorite of the group.

My personal favorite was the Turley Dusi which featured big complex cherry, dark berry, spice and earthy aromas and flavors. The Turley was followed very closely by the Seghesio San Lorenzo, Rosenblum Harris Kratka, Ridge Lytton Springs and Storybook Mountain in that order.  All were very good to excellent wines that will justify their prices to fans of complex zinfandels.