Rosenblum Cellars is known for Zinfandel.  In fact, they call themselves the “mecca for zinfanatics.”  I admire Rosenblum for being bold and taking a somewhat unique approach to wine making.

Similar to many of the producers we’ve reviewed in this Zinfandel series, Rosenblum Cellars produces several different labels of Zinfandel.  Some of those labels are produced like micro-wines, isolating grapes from individual lots to feature the unique characteristics from the particular vines and climate in each vineyard.  The wine we tasted for this review is the Rosenblum Vintner’s Cuvée, in which grapes are selected from various different vineyards to layer the qualities and characteristics of each.  Further, the wine is aged in both French and American oak casks to lend even more complexity.

One thing you may notice about Rosenblum Vintner’s Cuvée is that you won’t find a typical vintage marking on the label.  Rather than list the vintage as a calendar year, Rosenblum labels the vintage as a bottling.  The vintage we tasted is XXX (the 30th bottling of the Cuvée Zinfandel).

Another thing that I found different, and I really liked, was a removable “memory tab.”  On the back label there is a tab that you can remove from the bottle to help you remember the wine’s name the next time you go to the shop.  This is simply a brilliant idea as I can’t count the number of times I’ve had a great wine in a restaurant and find myself wishing I had written down the name the next day.  Of course this is less of a problem now than it used to be since the advent of camera phones.  Now I just snap a picture of the bottle any time I find a new wine that I want to note.  At times this has me propping up the bottle next to a candle in a dark restaurant, trying to get enough light (very obnoxious).

Rosenblum Vintner’s Cuvée XXX

Rosenblum Vintner’s Cuvée is the go-to cheap Zinfandel for many budget wine aficionados.  It’s a fairly typical inexpensive California Zin and it’s definitely good, but I’m not blown away by it.  It is very spicy and very fruit forward, so if that’s your preference this may be a good pick for you.

On the nose it is mostly cedar, black pepper and plum.  There is also a subtle cherry cola aroma.  The palate is predominantly big blackberry flavor and raisin.  There is also some plum and cherry with less intensity than the blackberry.  The finish brings a touch of raspberry and a snappy spice giving this wine a nice complexity. The tannins are fine grained.  Overall it’s a good value Zin.

Wine: Rosenblum Cellars Vintner’s Cuvée XXX
Variety: Zinfandel
Vintage: XXX
Alcohol: 14.6%
Rating: 86
Price Paid: $11.99

Find Rosenblum Cellars Vitner’s Cuvée with Snooth