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What wine to drink for New Year's Eve? Always a tough choice. This past New Year's Eve we were invited to celebrate with our bridge friends. (Lori and I play bridge regularly with friends, actually a lot of fun. And pretty competitive sometimes, especially when we play duplicate bridge. Trust me on this.) Anyway, everyone brings an appetizer to share for the night, and we bring a bottle of wine per couple. So you never know what food is going to be there, so you can either choose a bottle of wine for whatever you're bringing, or just choose something that's ready to drink.
Well, we did a bit of both in choosing our wine. We were bringing a 7-layer dip, so we needed something with big flavors. But we also wanted something nice, ready to drink, for a special night. So out came our final bottle of 2004 Papapietro Perry Zinfandel, Dry Creek Valley, Pauline's Vineyard. Lori's 7-layer dip was great, with cheese, beans, guacamole, and more. And the wine was tremendous.
Dry Creek Valley is known for their Zinfandels. Quite often, with the hot growing days at the north end of the valley, the Zins are big and fruity, great to drink for a few years from release. We originally came to enjoy Papapietro Perry for their Zinfandel, then found their Pinot Noir. We didn't know how the Zin would age, how well it might develop some complexity, how the fruit and tannin would balance out over time. At 7 years old, this Zin was everything I want in a Zinfandel: nose that foretold the fruit to come, clean entry, nice body with some oomph to it, and a lingering finish that had just enough tannin. Just wanted to keep each mouthful for as long as possible before swallowing. I really enjoy a good Zinfandel, and this one definitely hit the spot on this special night.
By the way, the Papapietro Perry tasting room is one of our favorites in the Dry Creek Valley area. Check it out next time you're up there.
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