The series on California Zinfandel is complete—finally—and here is the summary of 25 Zinfandels under $20.  Zinfandel tends to be a love it or hate it variety, and those that love it find themselves paying more and more for it lately.  Yes, the better Zinfandels are ticking upward with their prices.  So, we thought it would be good to find where the values can still be found.

Top Zin – Edmeades Mendocino County

With outstanding complexity, texture and a memorable finish, the top honors goes to the 2006 Edmeades Mendocino County Zinfandel.  But it comes with a hefty price tag for cheap wine aficionados — $18.99 where we bought it.  This is the most expensive bottle in our list.  It’s also has one of the highest alcohol levels we encountered (15.5%), a characteristic consistent with many of the better Zinfandels in our opinion.  Our rating came to a 92 on this one and it is highly recommended, if you’re willing to spend that much.

Other Recommendations

The only other wine we tried to earn a 90 was the 2005 Cardinal Zin.  It’s a few dollars cheaper than the Edmeades, but it will still run you $15.99.  It comes with a fabulous, albeit controversial, label designed by Ralph Steadman.  This wine has a pronounced intensity on the nose with interesting complexity.  The palate brings an equal amount of complexity with abundant ripe fruit, mineral, leather and pepper.  This is another highly recommended wine.

One of the really pleasing parts of this series is that we found a number of decent Zinfandels.  Here are the picks that rated between 86-89:

• 2005 Charles Underwood Farleigh: A lot of heat with a 15.9% alcohol level, and an interesting, fruit-filled palate.
• 2005 Parducci Mendocino Valley: An outstanding value at $10, and environmentally friendly.
• 2001 Belvedere Healdsburg Ranches:  A good pick if you’re lucky enough to find it.
• 2005 Bogle Old Vine Zinfandel: A tasty $10 value that should be easy to find.
• 2005 7 Deadly Zins: A “Lodi style” Zinfandel that features a spicy nose with a bit of raspberry, tomato, pepper and cola, followed by a bold, jammy and spicy palate.
• 2005 Oak Ridge Old Zin Vines: Big blackberry jam meets chocolate and coffee.
• 2005 Rancho Zabaco Sonoma Heritage Vines: A big Zinfandel that’s tannic and fruity.
• Rosenblum Cellars Vitner’s Cuvée xxx : A standard on the affordable Zinfandel list and one of the spiciest ones we tried.

Bargain Basement Zinfandel

If you’re really budget-conscious and are looking for the absolute best deal, then go with the 2005 Twisted Zin.  The nose on the Twisted Zin is cherry cola, raspberry and herbs.  It’s not really elegant, but it’s fun and enjoyable.  The palate is full of jammy red fruit and a touch of black pepper.

The Full List

Here is the full list of the 25 Zinfandels under $20 we tried for this series.