Chateau Montelena Calistoga Zinfandel

Winery: Chateau Montelena

Wine: Calistoga Zinfandel

Costco Notes: The woodsy, briary character of old vine Zinfandel is quite prominent but with time unmasks beautiful notes of lavender, cassis, and fresh mint.  Supple tannins are present throughout the amble between earthiness and minerality.

Left Coast Tasting Notes:

Color:  Medium to light ruby color, a little lighter than a normal old vine Zinfandel

Nose (aromas):  Once the wine was aerated, there was a light jammy aroma

Palate (flavors):  Upon pulling the cork, we experienced an inexpensive red wine.  Once aerated, then hints of Zinfandel began to appear with red fruit and a very light peppery finish appeared.

Grapes: Zinfandel

Alcohol: 14.5%           

Summary: It is hard not to like Zinfandel.  But being very light in character, this wine was nice but lacked a distinctive fruit forward, full mouth feel with a bell pepper finish you expect in a Zinfandel. We would serve this with a beef stew or hardy soup.  This is a drink now bottle of wine, we do not believe age will improve this wine.

Rating:  Wednesday

No other ratings

Value:  We agreed, the wine was drinkable, but would not buy another bottle at the price point.   

Costco SKU: 1543174

Price: $29.99

Store Location: Danville, CA

Date of Tasting: 10/29/2021

Tasting Panel: M.S., M.A., C.P., L.F., B.H.,M.C.

This is the first in a series of guest posts from Left Coast Wine Bloggers, a great group of wine lovers finding and enjoying Costco wines they find on the West Coast. You can read more about them here, and learn more about their rating system. We hope the addition of their wine reviews will expand the geographic coverage of the blog so you can find more of the wines we feature. Cheers.