Coturri Zinfandel Chauvet 2004, Sonoma Valley

My wife Kristi and I spent this past weekend in the Hampton's with our great friends Mary and Carlos and their friends Rian and JC. In preparation for the weekend, I stopped by The Wine List of Summit in Summit, NJ to pick up a few bottles to go with the meals we were planning to make at the house. I decided to get three bottles of white to quench our thirst on the hot evenings and three bottles of red to pair with our BBQing. We ended up opening five of the six and they were all excellent, but one stood head and shoulders above the rest. The 2004 Coturri Zinfandel Chauvet was recommended to me by Neil Rodriguez who is the general manager and buyer at the wine shop. He said that if I was a "zin head" like him that enjoyed big, jammy, chewy zins that this bottle would be for me - and was it ever. Carlos and I decided that we would decant the bottle and let it hang out while we grilled and enjoyed several other beverages. From the first sip the wine wowed us with its fruit and jammy texture, which was no surprise given its deep purple color. This wine was perfect as our last bottle of the evening as it would have been way too big to begin with, even with the right food pairing. Kristi was the only one in the group that didn't love the wine, which I expected given that she typically does not like her wine quite that sweet, or with that much alcohol (14.9%). The wine went perfectly with our dessert which included chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies as well as vanilla bean ice cream. I will definitely be purchasing more of this wine as the $22 price point makes this outstanding wine a great value. Until next time, buon appetito!