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Tim Lemke

Tim is the founder and chief reviewer at Cheap Wine Ratings since 2007.

Glen Ellen Proprietor’s Reserve Zinfandel

A question I get asked every now and then is, “Is any of the wine in those big bottles any good?” The short answer is, “yes, some of it is good.”  But not all of it.  Some folks refer to bottles that are 1.5 liter and larger as “large format” bottles.  And in some cases, […]

Villa San-Juliette Zinfandel

We’ve been talking about zinfandel for the past few weeks, and while many of those we’ve reviewed have been from Lodi, California, now we’re getting into some from other regions.  And one of the great appellations for zinfandel is Paso Robles, the origin of this wine from Villa San-Juliette. When we’re writing about wines, sometimes […]

X Winery Zinfandel

While many of the zinfandels we’ve been reviewing lately come from Lodi, California, that’s not the only place that’s producing great zin.  This one from X Winery comes from the Nova Vineyard in Lake County, California.  This is located just outside Kelseyville, California — which is a good bit north of Napa and Sonoma, and even […]

Mettler Family Vineyards Epicenter Old Vine Zinfandel

The holiday weekend is over but we’re still talking zinfandel, which happened to be the wine of choice for our grilled foods this weekend.  When you’ve got rich flavors, like barbecue sauce, you need a wine that can stand up next to them and not get lost.  Zinfandel is just the kind of wine to […]

Earthquake Zinfandel

Tonight, we’re shaking things up.  OK, not really.  That was going to be a play on the Earthquake name of this wine, but truthfully, we’re not shaking things up.  In fact, we’re continuing the theme of the past few reviews, zinfandel! You know, seeing zinfandel! with an exclamation point after it looks good.  It looks […]

7 Deadly Zins 2008

Continuing with the current theme of zinfandel, tonight we’re reviewing a cult classic of sorts in the zin drinking world.  7 Deadly Zins is a trusted favorite of many zin fanatics.  It has a fun and memorable name.  It’s got some tasty juice in it.  And it’s affordable.  What more could you want from a […]

Redwood Creek Zinfandel

Summer is quickly approaching, and that means grilling season.  And grilling season means it’s time for zinfandel.  While summer is a great time to try some cool, crisp white wines, if you’re looking for a wine to go with your burgers from the grill, then it’s zinfandel you should be grabbing.  I’m not talking about […]

Brazin Lodi Old Vine Zinfandel

We review a lot of wines here, but surprisingly only a handful of them end up on my personal list of trusted favorites.  This is one of those wines. Brazin if fairly young as a brand, although the winemaker behind it, Sue Hofmann, has plenty of experience.  We first discovered it with the 2007 vintage, […]

Alente Wines from Portugal

Tonight we’re checking out two Portuguese wines from Alente, which is a producer in the Alentejo region of Portugal. As I’ve commented in the past, I think some of the best values in wine are from Portugal.  Unfortunately, I’ve found that distribution of Portuguese wines is a bit spotty in the US.  In my region, […]

Cool Climate Red Wines from Chile

A few weeks ago, I had an opportunity to take part in a Chilean wine tasting with several other wine bloggers around the country.  It was a virtual tasting, meaning that we were connected “virtually” not that we virtually tasted… we really did taste the wines.  But we were connected via a web conference with […]