Friday, April 03, 2009

Hess Dry Creek Artezin Zinfandel...mmmmm!

For quite some time now Wine Guy and I have enjoyed Hess's Artezin series '06 Dry Creek Zinfandel. I finally took some pictures of the bottle and remembered that I should write a blog post about it. I would say this is the third or fourth bottle of it that we've had over the past year. We're heading up to Hess tomorrow and might just have to buy another one! :)

We enjoyed a bottle of it last week with our dinner of "arugula pasta", a very yummy dish that we make at least once a week...I should share the recipe on here! It's one of those that is so ingrained in my memory that I am not even sure if I have a recipe written out anywhere... So anyways, back to the wine! It has a rich ruby color, full-bodied but not overpowering on the taste buds, and has a luscious taste of ripe berries mixed with a hint of smoke and cocoa. We usually pair it with hearty pasta dishes and it pairs wonderfully.

If you have the opportunity to buy a bottle of this, DO! It's very reasonably priced and you'll be impressed with the taste. It isn't actually 100% Zinfandel, but a blend of 88% Zin, 11% Petite Sirah, and 1 % Carignan. It costs $25 a bottle, and can be purchased straight from the Hess Collection website: Click here to buy.

Make sure if you decide to try this that you get the Dry Creek Zinfandel and not the Mendicino Zinfandel. We've had both and the Dry Creek is much better, though the Mendicino isn't bad. When you taste them side by side though, there's no comparison!

Here are some bottle pictures. Be sure to click on them for higher-res images.