2006 Ridge Zinfandel East Bench

A very small production of East Bench gets made every year and rarely makes it to Connecticut. Our distributor only had a case, and offered it to me as we buy a lot of Ridge for BONDA. I liked the wine, but it was a little hot (too much alcohol) and surprisingly did not have a lot of fruit.

Jamie had stored it in his cellar, so it was a perfect temp, but wasn't like any Ridge I had from the 00's. 100% Zinfandel, it was mellow. As it opened up and warmed up a bit, the big raisiny Zin flavors came out, taming the alcohol. I think it needs more time in the bottle as the '03s and '04s from Ridge are drinking awesome now.