Should Lodi Ca go back to the grass?

So, for years I've enjoyed Seven Deadly Zins. Tonight we drank a 2016 7 Deadly Zins, Lodi Old Vine Zinfandel. Friends, I tell you what: Climate change is real! As parts of Australia and Lodi CA are learning, there is only so much you can do in the winery--if your fruit is being blasted by too much sun and heat, your wines will suffer, and I am very afraid that has now happened to Lodi Zins.

Already, it was super-hot there. For Goshsakes, they harvest their Zins as early as late August!  So much sun and heat. But this 2016 Old Vine Zin was way too black for us--gone are the ripe purple fruits, and though this wine was always lower in acid, now there is very little, and the wine seems too high-alcohol, too flabby, too black. This is very sad. MOVE NORTH! All growers must adjust to this continuing climate change. Maybe Lodi should be growing only Cab Sauv, and let the Zin grape migrate up the map.

Just sayin.

2012 Turley Old Vines Zin

I think five proper storage years is about perfect for this wine! The bouquet is rich, jammy. On the palate, there is succulent fruit, mostly plummy and quite forward.  The body's a little unctuous, but fresh and crisp. Young.  Spectator gave it 91 points; I'd say 92.

Four days later: Update: The leftover wine was finished tonight. Sadly, this wine didn't survive four days in the refrigerator. Perhaps a four-day survival of a half bottle is too much to ask, but for $50 one might be excused for hoping so. Tonight, the four-day-old Turley Old Vines Zin was gone to prunes and hardly drinkable. The wine wasn't that old, so I view this as a serious flaw. As Baby Boomers age, a bottle of wine that's not very old (and which is quite spendy) should be able to survive a mere four days in the fridge without falling apart.

There are more good Zins coming out of Lodi now. Lodi CA used to be a place where no true wine lover would dare to tread, but now many wineries are making very good, lower-priced Zins from there. Sure, maybe they harvest in July and that is weird, but what the hay! Give them a try--you can buy four or five of them for the price of one bottle of Turley Old Vines Zin!  (P.S. - And in my opinion, they're just as good) Give up on this Turley wine. There are many better Zins out there for far less money.

Here's a general rule: Once a wine has achieved cult status, be very cautious about buying it. I've learned that the number of wineries who can sustain truly high quality after achieving acclaim, is rather small.

For those of you in CA, please check out the better wines from Walla Walla WA. Many of them are FAR superior to CA wines of higher price. What are you waiting for? At what point will you finally admit you are wasting money, and will have to retire two years later than you'd like, just because of the money you spent on so-called great CA wines, when you could spend half as much for far better wines from WA? Wake up! Open your mninds! You are good people. You lead the nation in Progressive political thinking. So, get just as smart on wine!