Ingredients:
1.5L Red wine
1 to 1.5 cups rum (dark is my favorite)
0.5 cup white sugar
2 to 3 pieces of fruit, sliced into small slices (lemons,limes,oranges are best)
1 to 1.5 cups orange juice

Preparation:
Pretty darn easy: get a large jug, think capacity of minimum 2L but I’d do 3L, pour in the sugar, cut up the fruit and squeeze the juice a bit out of them and throw into the jug, pour in rum, pour in wine, pour in orange juice, mix well, refrigerate for 2 hours.

Voila!

The deep purple colour and strong cherry nose I noticed as I decanted this automatically got me worried that this red was simply going to be too young. Being a 2006 vintage that is not hard to imagine as well crafted Zinfandel’s can definitely be aged for years/decades. Once the sniffing began there was no doubt that black cherry was evident, what kinda of crept on us was a distinct chocolate scent that we were not expecting. With a couple good swirls of the glass and the mouth we dove into this wine. The wine is young, it’s bite is early and often but the flavours are outstanding. Despite the medium-large tannins we were getting a nice peppery spice, the obvious cherry and chocolate, but as well a hint of earthiness and something flowery (such an odd mix of aromas by this time I could not say what sort of flower…). I think with the tannins, the solid body/weight and very good fruit this wine is ideal for cellaring between 2 to 4 years, after that you will just get more of the same, but I’d buy a few, squirrel them away and be pleasantly surprised in a few years when you stumble on them. With a low price but a big feel I think you are hard priced to find a Zinfandel from California that give you the same “bang for the buck”, I am impressed with the wine-makers work here.

The subjective rating for this little gem is 89 out of 100 (I think we will snag two bottles and revisit this in 2011).

LCBO listing here.

Mrs CWG

I love chocolate covered cherries, so what is not to like about a wine with similar properties?

Edmeades 2006 Zinfandel