04 Oct, 2006
Clos Du Bois 2003 Zinfandel North Coast CA
Well-balanced, yet a bit disappointing
Hamburgers cry out for a nice chewy zin (boo hoo!) Time to try some Clos Du Bois zin. It's our first try with this red. We bought it last week for $12 at Wine Works mainly from past experience (loved their pinot noir and merlot) and from the label text off the bottle: "ripe raspberry and strawberry with nicely layered characters of black plum, pepper and cinnamon." Well I got heavy vanilla spice on the nose and plum and oak on the palate. I really missed out on the strawberry and raspberry. "Wish you were here!" While the oak/vanilla/spice balanced things out a bit better than the Avalon cab last night, it seemed to overwhelm the berry. This is basically plum and oak. Very good, but quite CALIFORNIAN: a bit of "artificial" oak that tastes "cheap" to me. Your mileage might vary. For the price, it's good stuff - worked well with hamburgers. But there are better zins out there for the same or less $ (Dancing Bull & Gallo Family come to mind for $10 or less.)
Rating: 8.5 out of 10