KLINKER BRICK | Old Vine Zinfandel | Lodi | 2017
primitivo

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Today we are are going to review a single varietal primitivo wine from California‘s famous Lodi sub-region – Old Vine Zinfandel Lodi 2017 by Klinker Brick Winery. Primitivo (also known as zinfandel in the USA) has been thought to be native to Puglia region (Italy), but it actually hails from Dalmatia (Croatia), where it is called tribidrag. In the last century it was noted that zinfandel and primitivo were very similar and the more researchers looked at them, the more similarities emerged. The DNA analysis removed any doubt – the two varieties are genetically identical, more than that, further DNA analysis revealed that both varieties are identical to a croatian variety called crljenak kastelanski, which raised the question: which variety is the oldest and which name was the correct one. In 2011 an even older croatian variety, called tribidrag, was found to be genetically identical, therefore the consensus was that this is the prime variety. As it turns out the names primitivo and tribidrag are both translated as ‘early‘ from latin and croatian respectively, which reflects the yearly-ripening characteristic of this grape variety. This particular wine is the winemaker’s flagship Zin (the local, american name given to the zinfandel grape variey) – a blend of 16 high quality zinfandel blocks that were sourced from very old vines (ranging from 50 to 120 years old) of the Mokelumne River vineyards in the Lodi AVA (California, USA). In order to soften the tannins and add extra complexity to the final blend, the wine has been barrel fermented and then aged for 15 months in new, american oak barrels (Radoux). But enough with all that theory, that said and without further ado, let’s take a look at the wine tasting results.
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Take a look at the tasting notes below and our detailed assessment of the wine:

//Visual
colour: deep garnet color
clarity: hazy garnet shades

//Olfactory
intensity: pronounced & expressive
fruit profile: black fruits | jammy fruits
__black fruits: black cherry | black plum | blackcurrant | blackberry
__blue fruits: black cherry jam | black plum jam | blackcurrant jam | blackberry jam
fruit character: overripe & jammy

//Flavor
non fruit: spice | oak | sweet | earth
__spice: nutmeg | cloves | peppercorn | tonka seeds
__oak: toasted oakwood | liquorice | charred wood | sweet tobacco | tree sap
__sweet: molasses | dried figs
__earth: charcoal | pencil lead
primary layer: fruit & oak

//Palate
sweetness: dry
acidity: medium+
alcohol: high
tannin: high
__grip: fine
balance: good
__dominant: alcohol
body: heady | full body

//Taste
fruit profile: black fruits
fruit character: ripe & overripe
non fruit: sweet & oak
finish: medium+
aftertaste: crisp & hot

//Scoring
KLINKER BRICK | Old Vine Zinfandel | Lodi | 2017
variety: primitivo
country: USA
region: California | Lodi
rating: 94.0

//Conclusion
maturity: developing | drink now or age for 3 to 5 more years
verdict: great | a must try wine
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This is definitely a great wine of USA and, with a total of 94.0 points scored, this wine is right there, among the best wines we’ve rated so far. Check our complete database on the wine rating page, where you can find all the wines that we have tasted and reviewed or go to the about us page and find out more about our exquisite rating system.

Verdict: this is an outstanding primitivo/zinfandel wine and definitely one of the best we’ve tasted so far: rich, extracted and ample, with an expressive nose and a flamboyant palate. The wine is still in its development phase, therefore we would suggest to either drink it today or age it for 3 to 5 more years, as the potential is clearly there, but make sure you don’t overdo it, as it is always better to drink a wine a year too soon than a day too late. On the nose the wine displays overripe and jammy black fruit notes in the foreground, supported by a nuanced, spicy-oaky background and a very subtle, earthy layer in between the two. On the palate the wine delivers bright and crisp acidity, ripe and fine-grained tannins and an overwhelming touch of alcoholic warmth that is showing through on the mouthfeel, which leads to a crisp and hot aftertaste. All in all this is a very nuanced, fruit-driven and heady primitivo/zinfandel wine, vinified in a clear cut, new world style, with an amazing structure and a full body – a textbook zin and a real crowd-pleaser. We believe this wine will pair nicely with barbequed meat cuts, like for example a grilled T-bone steak or a marinated flank steak. Cheers!

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