Caravel Wines Reserve Zinfandel (4)

Caravel Wines Reserve Zinfandel 4-Pack
$65.99 (Normally $128.25) 49% off List Price
2008 Caravel Zinfandel Reserve
CT link above

Winery website

I drank a bottle of this wine recently and thoroughly enjoyed it. It pretty much hit all my pleasure buttons for an easy-drinking Zin. Fruit forward but not sweet. A little jammy with raspberry tart, cherry compote, strawberries, cream of cassis, some spicy bramble and moderate oak. Smooth tannins on the short/medium finish. The only minor quibble I have is that it didn’t improve at all on the second day. That leads me to believe that it is more of a drink-now wine than something you would want to hold for any length of time. This is a wine that will drink equally well with or without food. It was heavenly when paired with some Candy Basket truffles.

First sucker, suckers! :slight_smile:

YOO!! Wooters,

Its a late night here in Cali for us folks. We look forward to chatting with you tomorrow. If you get a chance join our fb page at Outcast Wines

We are makers of Caravel and Outcast wines… Cheers! Thanks for joining us on our Wine Journey

unusually quiet tonight :slight_smile:

But for the second day in a row it seems that they can ship to VA. It’s not listed in the buzzkill states and VA was lit up yesterday. Did something change?

Virginia is NOT listed as a potential ship state. Read the notice again. It states due to buzzkilling laws the wine can only be shipped to the states listed.

Okay fair enough but VA is lit up for yesterday’s offering of Proud to Serve Sauvignon Blanc.

I noticed first purchase from CA @ 1:30 into the sale. This is the third time the actual first sucker hasn’t gotten their due credit, as this has also happened to both Sparky, myself, and now another CA purchaser. I think woot and Rick Perry is trying to tell CA something, move out.

Oh, and thanks for the TN’s.

Probably because I attempted to purchase it first (I hammered the big orange button like it was a Wootoff B.O.C.) but got denied initially because of a snafu with my email addy. I switched payment methods and it went through. There was another wooter whose name showed briefly as first sucker then it changed to me.

Ohio State wins the First Sucker Bowl and is crowned WW champ!

You get to live in CA, that should be enough. :wink:

EDIT: and off I go to shovel 6" of snow from the driveway…

Welcome, can you speak to the specific vineyards that make up this blend, why choose fruit from each site and what each site added to the final blend that made you feel it was complete.

You aren’t very good at this easing back on purchases thing.

Sparky 2.0

So I opened a bottle of this earlier in the week. Unfortunately for me I had maybe half glass of this. The nose was jammy. On the first sip I got spicy, almost like black pepper that lingered. Didn’t mind that at all. Quite liked that flavor. However I got hint of vanilla and overwhelmingly tobacco flavor. Like cigar smelling in your face tobacco flavors. Unfortunately for me, that was it. Even an hour and a day later I just couldn’t get passed the tobacco flavoring. So definitely not my style.

On another note though, hubby loved it and drank my unfinished glasses. He does smoke cigars on occasion so he didn’t mind it. He thought he’d like to try it while smoking said cigar to see how it’d go together.

I had a chance to taste this a few days ago. I noted that this was a California AVA Zin, 14.5%. I’m not a huge Zin drinker, so take this with a grain of salt. The only Zins that I routinely purchase are Wellington and Pedroncelli. There was also a plastic cork, which I hate because they ruin nice wine tools. Have to dig up the old crappy wine tool I bought at a convenience store somewhere outside of Hickory… Ah there it is!
Opened the bottle and poured about 1 oz and then let it sit, planning to come back in a few hours.
Well, there is an open bottle of $15 Bordeaux from last night, might as well have a glass while I wait for the Caravel bottle to breathe……
OK, 2 hours later we taste the Caravel…
Color: red, very red like a Chianti.
Nose: Not much fruit at first, a strong green briary scent and also undertones of something sweet. Not a fruit bomb. The nose is unique – not off-putting, but not fruity, it’s almost hard to find any fruit on the nose. The nose reminds me of some South American wines I’ve had.
Taste: now there’s the fruit. Cherry, Raspberry, Red Fruits, mild tannins and mild acidity. There’s some definite sweetness there as well, maybe a touch of RS or maybe its just the Zin.
A moderate short finish.
Overall this a very easy drinking wine and one I think would go well at a BBQ party. It’s not my particular style, as I prefer higher acid, but I think it’s one that many people will enjoy.
Unlike Chip, I noticed an improvement the next day. The strong briary aroma had dissipated and the fruit had come through on the nose. The wine felt less disjointed and much more complete.

SWMBO Notes:
Nose of grass. Taste of cherries. Not a bad wine.

I did get some vanilla and tobacco as well, but I rolled the vanilla into “cream of cassis” and didn’t notice the tobacco as prominently as you did.

I’ve been trying to limit myself to mostly the “must buys” like recent Ty Caton and Stillman Brown offers but I enjoyed this one far too much to let it pass by. Bottle for you if you want it!

Based on the notes, sounds like my style. I’ll try a bottle.

When you folks say “next day” are you leaving the bottle open over night? Please help this newishbee…

I do believe that some people leave the bottle opened, uncorked. I do not though. Once you open a bottle and recork it, you are trapping some oxygen into the bottle which will slowly change and often open up the wine (think really slow decanting).

Everyone does things differently. I usually recork my reds and just leave them on the counter. Some people recork and put in the fridge (I do this with my whites and dessert wines). It really all depends on when you plan to finish the wine. If you leave it completely uncorked, you should probably finish it the next day (maybe longer depending on the wine), as the air really speeds up the aging process.

Some people even have really fancy Argon gas dispensing units and keep their wine for weeks after opening.

I happened to pick up a bottle of this earlier in the week, which I planned on bringing to my usual card group (4 married couples). To make things a little more interesting, I also brought a bottle of 2007 Wellington Zin (SV) and a 2008 Elsbree RRV Zin. For purposes of this review, I will only comment on the Caravel.

PnP
Color: medium dark burgundy with moderate legs when swirled.
Aroma: minimal, but something sweet, possibly strawberry
Flavor: spicy, possibly pepper, flat cola and a little vanilla

Since the pork ribs were still cooking, we let this sit about 45 minutes, or until the ribs were done.

Flavor: a little deeper or more pronounced now. Tasters still thought strawberry, some cherry, more pepper and vanilla; not jammy though in our opinion.
Finish: pretty smooth, with no acid ending upon swallowing.
Food pairing: this was by far the WOTN for going with the ribs. While the other wines were okay, this was the perfect match.

Concensus: everyone liked this wine and would want to drink it again with BBQ items like ribs, chicken, etc. For $16 a bottle, this is a solid purchase.