With a new box from Wine Awesomeness came a bottle from Van Ruiten Vineyards that was most intriguing. With it’s adorable label, I just couldn’t resist opening it first. A little station wagon with a surfboard, vintage-style font, and matching top and label made this wine really stand out.
The information provided in the Wine Awesomeness booklet alluded to the story of Van Ruiten Vineyards, but I delved into my own research in order to understand the wine’s story further. The Van Ruiten’s were a Dutch family that moved to America right after World War II and to Lodi, California specifically. With a dream of owning a vineyard, they purchased one with “sweat equity” in the 1950s. Today the family owns roughly 800 acres and harvests their grapes by hand each year.*
I felt like Zinfandel as a varietal garnered a bad rep sometimes, so I wanted to do a bit of research on this grape varietal. I discovered that, while the grape probably arose from Croatia, the name ‘Zinfandel’ is truly American and has been around since 1832. Zinfandel is now the third leading grape varietal in America. While Zinfandel is red, it is mostly used in making rosé.* So, while Zinfandel may have a reputation for being lesser, it is obviously a crowd pleaser.
This wine was from Lodi, California, and sampled on July 21, 2017. This wine smelled woodsy, like a pinecone. It reminded me of men’s cologne. There were also lingering scents of vanilla. There were definite tastes of candy apple brought in with the first sip. Of course, I was listening to “Glory Days” by Bruce Springsteen. The sweetness of the candy apple flavor became a bit too much after a few sips. Paired with a dark chocolate cupcake, the bitterness helped to balance out the sweetness a tiny bit.
I gave this wine a rating of 2.5. I really wanted to like this wine, but in the end it just was not happening for me. I wouldn’t be planning on purchasing again, but I did not plan on letting it discourage me from trying more Zinfandel in the future.
Sources:
https://www.vrwinery.com/About-Us/About
https://www.wineinstitute.org/resources/winefactsheets/article99