+1 for the drier style, and if you've got any Petit Verdot lying around, I'd be curious as to how some of that worked in the blend...

merbill wrote:For me, the "Z" (can you tell which label I think you should use?) was in an uncomfortable place at 2% RS - too sweet to be just a dry, extracted, fruit-forward red, but not sweet enough to be called a dessert wine.

I think you just pinned what I couldn't describe about what I thought of the 2006. You're absolutely right - it was an awkward sweetness and I wasn't quite sure what to do with it.

...and another +1 for the drier style blend, though mr sanity preferred the sweeter style.
These were the only Scott Harvey wines I did not purchase; a local wooter friend offered to share.

I like the idea of the big Z on the label as opposed to a super hero. Maybe the overall look of the label could remain the same for each vintage, but change it lightly from year to year by altering the background color, or the color of the Z.

cheron98 wrote:I think you just pinned what I couldn't describe about what I thought of the 2006. You're absolutely right - it was an awkward sweetness and I wasn't quite sure what to do with it.

This sounds like the red equivalent of an off-dry Riesling or Gewurztraminer. To me that hints at going well with something bold and spicy. Maybe something like penne alla Arabitta with some spicy sausage? Is that the more meaty analog to the spicy Thai food I think of as going with off dry Riesling?

This discussion has gotten me curious to try the '06 InZin!

One more superfluous vote for the '04 style...

As for the labels, I don't know if this is feasible, but what about a Z label to pacify distributors and state legislators, and a superhero 4-pack for, say, wooters and club members?

klezman wrote:This sounds like the red equivalent of an off-dry Riesling or Gewurztraminer. To me that hints at going well with something bold and spicy. Maybe something like penne alla Arabitta with some spicy sausage? Is that the more meaty analog to the spicy Thai food I think of as going with off dry Riesling?

This discussion has gotten me curious to try the '06 InZin!

I had ended up making pork chops with a port-reduction sauce when I tried it, and it worked just fine, since the sauce sweetness tamed down the wine sweetness. Spicy sausage would be interesting... I'll have to try that with it

...if I have any left.

gregorylane wrote:"Spider Pig, Spider Pig...Does whatever a Spider Pig does!"

Homer Simpson

Woot!

Great Shout Out to the Homie!!

Back to the wine . . . the Sangiovese sounds marvelous with the '04 base --

Wish I were in California to make the SF ZAP! Dang this Texas thing!

Another log on the fire for the drier style. Having said that, I popped a 2006 InZin for dinner last night (gourmet deep dish pizza) and things went just fine.

On to the label. Sigh. I hate to be the dissenter here but I find the whole superhero thing to be, well, at the risk of offending, juvenile.

I always hesitate before gifting this wine due to the label. The receiver has to be someone close who "gets it", that it is about the wine and not the label, and by gifting it I am personally endorsing the contents. I would likely NOT bring this to several casual gatherings we have frequently with acquaintances/neighbors we don't know that well.

Could be just me.

Hi Scott -

Didn't see the thread until today, but, like most everyone would prefer the 2004 style. I had gifted a 2004 to a friend, and he called me the day after drinking it asking where he could get more (you happened to have been in my car minutes before). I pointed him to your site, but warned him that the new version was quite different from the 2004.

Personally, I enjoy the sweeter blend also, but I know what to expect when I open the bottle. Haven't gotten Mrs. Woop to embrace it yet, but that's OK.

The 2004 style is both easily accessible to many wine drinkers, without being "simple". Sort of the Harry Potter series of Zins.

BTW - Since Michigan has yet to outlaw the superhero labels, I think they rock! and you should keep your extended family employed with new ones, but I understand if it is limiting some folk's access to your craftmanship in the bottle.

I'm a little late in reading your blog, so my comments are also a bit untimely. Nonetheless, I am greatly in favor of the drier style of wine.
As to the label, I'm a big fan of fun character labels. So, while I would hate to have it negatively affect your sales because of shops not willing to display it, I would love to see you continue to develop fanciful superheroes as a theme. I play with winemaking (and I do mean play - it's just from kits) and really have fun with my labels. Follow the link in my sig, then look for the Days Delight wines in my cellar to see what I mean. I don't expect you to go the naked lady route on your labels (more's the pity!), but keep it fun!
Looking forward to the new InZinerator!

I actually prefered the sweeter style, but I'm a very big fan of port.

As for the labels, I really enjoyed the superhero labels. I'm surprised that no zorro character made it to the bottle yet.

dayoff53 wrote:I'm a little late in reading your blog, so my comments are also a bit untimely. Nonetheless, I am greatly in favor of the drier style of wine.
As to the label, I'm a big fan of fun character labels. So, while I would hate to have it negatively affect your sales because of shops not willing to display it, I would love to see you continue to develop fanciful superheroes as a theme. I play with winemaking (and I do mean play - it's just from kits) and really have fun with my labels. Follow the link in my sig, then look for the Days Delight wines in my cellar to see what I mean. I don't expect you to go the naked lady route on your labels (more's the pity!), but keep it fun!
Looking forward to the new InZinerator!

I remember quite a ways back you talking about your making of your own wine and the labels. I remember at that time looking through whatever link you had given us to see the labels you had made and thinking they were totally awesome. I'll have to look through your CT again later to look at the more recent ones.
I find it humorous that for your CT records you put them as a "Purchase" at "Winery"...since you are the actual winery.

dayoff53 wrote:I'm a little late in reading your blog, so my comments are also a bit untimely. Nonetheless, I am greatly in favor of the drier style of wine.
As to the label, I'm a big fan of fun character labels. So, while I would hate to have it negatively affect your sales because of shops not willing to display it, I would love to see you continue to develop fanciful superheroes as a theme. I play with winemaking (and I do mean play - it's just from kits) and really have fun with my labels. Follow the link in my sig, then look for the Days Delight wines in my cellar to see what I mean. I don't expect you to go the naked lady route on your labels (more's the pity!), but keep it fun!
Looking forward to the new InZinerator!

Awesome labels! Um. Yeah most of them would not be approved by the gov't.
Click here for a list of all of them.

Scott, do you remember the Lytton Springs Vineyards zins before Ridge bough them out? Big, rich Italian-planted field blend with some Petite Sirah and gosh knows what else? Loved those wines. Would love to find some like it. It was big and rich with great structure, but not sweet.

dayoff53 wrote:I'm a little late in reading your blog, so my comments are also a bit untimely. Nonetheless, I am greatly in favor of the drier style of wine.
As to the label, I'm a big fan of fun character labels. So, while I would hate to have it negatively affect your sales because of shops not willing to display it, I would love to see you continue to develop fanciful superheroes as a theme. I play with winemaking (and I do mean play - it's just from kits) and really have fun with my labels. Follow the link in my sig, then look for the Days Delight wines in my cellar to see what I mean. I don't expect you to go the naked lady route on your labels (more's the pity!), but keep it fun!
Looking forward to the new InZinerator!

Excellent labels.

I liked them both, but I really enjoyed drinking the 2004 version, so that style has my vote. The only time I have ever gone back to a winery directly to get more of something that I get through wine.woot was for the 2004 Inzinerator. You couldn't ship directly to my state, but your helpful staff found a round about way to get me a few more bottles at a reasonable cost. This time I'll know to max out my order when the 2007 vintage shows up on the site. Thanks ahead of time.

+1 for the 2006 inzinerator - used 2 of my bottles from that order to introduce some friends that said they didn't like red wine and had a few converts

cheron98 wrote:I had ended up making pork chops with a port-reduction sauce when I tried it, and it worked just fine, since the sauce sweetness tamed down the wine sweetness. Spicy sausage would be interesting... I'll have to try that with it

...if I have any left.

That looks tasty! I've never been able to make a port reduction that I've really really liked. I should take some lessons

I vote the dryer version.

As for the label, I don't think a plain "Z" really captures the fun nature of the super hero name. But if you're looking for something less cartoony, I think there's some cool things you could do that play off the super hero theme.

Like, imagine if someone talented did something like this

I personally found the 2006 to be too sweet. Not to say I didn't like it overall, but I bet that 1% less residual sugar could make all the difference. On the other hand, people not accustomed to drinking wine seem to like this for its sweetness, so it is a good bottle to bring with you wherever you go!

I'm back, been going crazy putting this blend together and getting everything scheduled for bottling. After reading all your great input, we are definitely going with the dryer style. I opened up both a bottle of the 2004 and 2006 while making the blend. The 2006 is too sweet while the 2004 tested at 1.2% residual sugar. The new 2007 Blend ended up balancing best at .8% residual sugar.
Blend notes on all three blends are:

2004
76% Zinfandel, 24% Barbera
In 4,941 gallons I added 74 gallons of Zinfandel concentrate to bring the wine up to .8% Residual Sugar. Recent test show 1.2% RS. Our method of testing is not as accurate as a comercial lab. None of the port wine (Forte) was used to sweeten the 2004.

2006
76% Zinfandel, 21% Syrah & 3% port(Forte)
The Forte added was 118 gallons in addition to 146 gallons of Zinfandel concentrate which brought this wine up to just over 2% RS.

New 2007 InZinerator
67% Zinfandel, 26% Syrah, 7% Forte.
The Forte is at about 9% residual sugar while concentrate is at 68% RS. There is no concentrate in the 2007. The only wine used to bring the wine to .8% RS is the Forte. This wine balances to taste just a little dryer than the 2004. Total blend is 4,400 gallons and we will be bottling it on Wednesday the 20th of January.

For those of you who like the sweeter style another blend is also being bottled called One Last Kiss. It used the same blending wines as the InZinerator but as 50% Zinfandel, 38% Syrah and 12% Forte. It is closer to 2% RS. No concentrate was used in this blend either.

We went with two front labels alternating, so there will be 6 bottles of each in every case. One is the same as the Hero on the Mountain that was used on the 2004 vintage and the other is the new Z label.

mfkean wrote:Scott, do you remember the Lytton Springs Vineyards zins before Ridge bough them out? Big, rich Italian-planted field blend with some Petite Sirah and gosh knows what else? Loved those wines. Would love to find some like it. It was big and rich with great structure, but not sweet.

I do remember the old Lytton Springs wines pre Ridge. I was always amazed at how grapy and juicy they tasted. They were easy to identify in a blind tasting.

ScottHarveyWines wrote:New 2007 InZinerator
67% Zinfandel, 26% Syrah, 7% Forte.
The Forte is at about 9% residual sugar while concentrate is at 68% RS. There is no concentrate in the 2007. The only wine used to bring the wine to .8% RS is the Forte. This wine balances to taste just a little dryer than the 2004. Total blend is 4,400 gallons and we will be bottling it on Wednesday the 20th of January.

Sounds awesome and I can't wait to try it. I started off wondering how it could be dryer with so much more Forte than the 2006, and then I noticed you talking about the concentrate. Interesting how something like that raises the RS so much.

I gather you decided to save out as much of your Barbera as you could for the actual Barbera bottlings, hence deciding not to include any in the InZin? I did love what the Barbera added to the 2004 InZin....but I do think I loved the actual Barbera Reserve even more.

I too have to vote for the 04 Zin! That Zin is the reason I drink Zin today. Oddly enough, I am sure your folks and the woot folks were going crazy trying to round up the last bottles of the 04 for me! I loved it enough to have to go direct to you to buy the rest of your stock! Please run with the 04 style like wildfire! I promise to partake!
I also have to agree with the previous post on the Sangioviese in the mix for your 3rd. I can't wait to find out!
Wait, how about some rattage just for fun Scott! You like fun right?

kdjakubs wrote:I too have to vote for the 04 Zin! That Zin is the reason I drink Zin today. Oddly enough, I am sure your folks and the woot folks were going crazy trying to round up the last bottles of the 04 for me! I loved it enough to have to go direct to you to buy the rest of your stock! Please run with the 04 style like wildfire! I promise to partake!
I also have to agree with the previous post on the Sangioviese in the mix for your 3rd. I can't wait to find out!
Wait, how about some rattage just for fun Scott! You like fun right?

I'll do some rattage on the final blend after it is finished. That should be the beginning of next week.
Cheers,
Scott

ScottHarveyWines wrote:New 2007 InZinerator
67% Zinfandel, 26% Syrah, 7% Forte.
The Forte is at about 9% residual sugar while concentrate is at 68% RS. There is no concentrate in the 2007. The only wine used to bring the wine to .8% RS is the Forte. This wine balances to taste just a little dryer than the 2004. Total blend is 4,400 gallons and we will be bottling it on Wednesday the 20th of January.

Looking forward to it - sounds great

The labels SH so kindly offered to send me arrived yesterday and really made my day. Thank you, thank you--I love the comic book art appeal they'll have on my wall!

I'm in for the new InZIN whenever it's available, and agree with those who said the lack of Barbera is good news only because hopefully it means a new Barbera (Riserva, perhaps?) is in the offing.

ScottHarveyWines wrote:

New 2007 InZinerator
67% Zinfandel, 26% Syrah, 7% Forte.
The Forte is at about 9% residual sugar while concentrate is at 68% RS. There is no concentrate in the 2007. The only wine used to bring the wine to .8% RS is the Forte. This wine balances to taste just a little dryer than the 2004. Total blend is 4,400 gallons and we will be bottling it on Wednesday the 20th of January.

We went with two front labels alternating, so there will be 6 bottles of each in every case. One is the same as the Hero on the Mountain that was used on the 2004 vintage and the other is the new Z label.

In for three (Pending rattage). Will the Last Kiss blend be offered separately from the regular blend offering? Is it intended to be a dessert wine?

justinrsanderson wrote:In for three (Pending rattage). Will the Last Kiss blend be offered separately from the regular blend offering? Is it intended to be a dessert wine?

I don't think this is actually a wine.woot offer (yet).

ddeuddeg wrote:I don't think this is actually a wine.woot offer (yet).

Yes but this is Scott Harvey we're talking about. And he's asking US about it. You know it'll be on here

cheron98 wrote:Yes but this is Scott Harvey we're talking about. And he's asking US about it. You know it'll be on here

I've got to hand it to you, even though you're just doing this to break up my string, which I wasn't actually trying to do in the first place, at least you're keeping the posts relevant.
EDIT: BTW, I forgot to post this earlier in the week -- the '06 InZIN was a huge hit at our benefit dinner last Saturday. I served it with the planned spinach and arugula salad with pomegranate seeds and toasted pecans, with a simple vinaigrette. That followed the herb-crusted beef tenderloin with an '05 Scott Harvey Amador County Old Vine Reserve Zin. A very popular selection, as well.
I'm glad to know the One Last Kiss will potentially serve to fill the void in the ~2% RS Zin category.

ScottHarveyWines wrote:I'm back, been going crazy putting this blend together and getting everything scheduled for bottling. After reading all your great input, we are definitely going with the dryer style. I opened up both a bottle of the 2004 and 2006 while making the blend. The 2006 is too sweet while the 2004 tested at 1.2% residual sugar. The new 2007 Blend ended up balancing best at .8% residual sugar.
Blend notes on all three blends are:

2004
76% Zinfandel, 24% Barbera
In 4,941 gallons I added 74 gallons of Zinfandel concentrate to bring the wine up to .8% Residual Sugar. Recent test show 1.2% RS. Our method of testing is not as accurate as a comercial lab. None of the port wine (Forte) was used to sweeten the 2004.

2006
76% Zinfandel, 21% Syrah & 3% port(Forte)
The Forte added was 118 gallons in addition to 146 gallons of Zinfandel concentrate which brought this wine up to just over 2% RS.

New 2007 InZinerator
67% Zinfandel, 26% Syrah, 7% Forte.
The Forte is at about 9% residual sugar while concentrate is at 68% RS. There is no concentrate in the 2007. The only wine used to bring the wine to .8% RS is the Forte. This wine balances to taste just a little dryer than the 2004. Total blend is 4,400 gallons and we will be bottling it on Wednesday the 20th of January.

For those of you who like the sweeter style another blend is also being bottled called One Last Kiss. It used the same blending wines as the InZinerator but as 50% Zinfandel, 38% Syrah and 12% Forte. It is closer to 2% RS. No concentrate was used in this blend either.

We went with two front labels alternating, so there will be 6 bottles of each in every case. One is the same as the Hero on the Mountain that was used on the 2004 vintage and the other is the new Z label.

Can you explain what Zinfandel concentrate is, and its relation to wine? Although I'm not as knowledgeable about the technicalities of the winemaking process as others on this board, I like the sound of there not being any concentrate in this new one. What's it for, how is it made and what proportion of vintners use it?

I've loved the Barbera wines you've made, so I'm glad you saved those grapes. I came upon a bottle of your non-reserve Barbera at the Colorado Wine Company in Eagle Rock. IT was a fruit forward easy to drink yet complex delight, an easy-drinking wine with length, body and palate zip. No, I don't use technical terminology, I don't have time to think of it (or the wine in front of me).

What it did do was make me crack open my first bottle of your Reserve Barbera from the first woot. Now that was a seriously darker and deeper treat, and I"m laying down my four remaining ones for a year or two. Thank you for that!

ScottHarveyWines wrote:I'll do some rattage on the final blend after it is finished. That should be the beginning of next week.
Cheers,
Scott

Have I told you lately that you are my Superhero?!! I have to tell you, I took your 04 InZin to a wine shop here that was doing tastings every Friday night during the summer and while it was so sad to see the wine go so fast (probably because it was MY wine!), it was a huge hit here in the Northwest. Unfortunately, that wine shop closed it doors with the economy and is doing only online sales now. That said, to make up for missing out on my Friday night tastings, I recreated my living room in my home to a Wine tasting room. So I was thinking... What if we did a Woot wine tasting here with your new 07 vintage and the lovely Wooters that support your mission to make fantastic wines? For that matter, we could do this for any of your offerings and provide feedback for your consumers if you like!
Anyone in the Portland, Oregon Metro area interested in this idea?
Just a thought....

richardhod wrote:Can you explain what Zinfandel concentrate is, and its relation to wine? Although I'm not as knowledgeable about the technicalities of the winemaking process as others on this board, I like the sound of there not being any concentrate in this new one. What's it for, how is it made and what proportion of vintners use it?

I've loved the Barbera wines you've made, so I'm glad you saved those grapes. I came upon a bottle of your non-reserve Barbera at the Colorado Wine Company in Eagle Rock. IT was a fruit forward easy to drink yet complex delight, an easy-drinking wine with length, body and palate zip. No, I don't use technical terminology, I don't have time to think of it (or the wine in front of me).

What it did do was make me crack open my first bottle of your Reserve Barbera from the first woot. Now that was a seriously darker and deeper treat, and I"m laying down my four remaining ones for a year or two. Thank you for that!

Legally, we can not add sugar to wines in Califronia, except for the production of sparkling wine. So, the concentrate business was born. Concentrate is cooked down grape juice to around 68% sugar. At 68% it is to sweet to ferment and therefore stable. Most winemakers do not make a port style wine and therefore must use concentrate if they want to add residual sugar to the wine.
This harvest we had a big rain about two thirds of the way through it. The sugars on the grapes in the vineyards dropped about 2 to 4 points in the vineyard as the vines brought in the rain water and pumped it into the grapes. Winemakers have been making higher and higher alcohol wines and no longer had the natural sugar needed to produce a high alcohol wine from these vineyards. The concentrate business got a wonderful boost when they all needed concentrate to bring the sugars up before fermentation. Naturally, if you are picking Zinfandel, you would want a concentrate produced from Zinfandel. You can get just red or white concentrate or varietal concentrate such as Zinfandel, Cabernet or Riesling. There is alo a heavy red concentrate called mega red or mega purple that will turn a poorly colored wine deep red.
Regular concentrate is around $20 per gallon and mega red is around $100 per gallon. Very few wineries will admit to using concentrate and even fewer to using mega red. But, these wines using mega red do tend to get higher scores from Parker and the Wine Spectator.
If I use concentrate and am asked I always admit it. When adding residual sugar to wines like Inzinerator and One Last Kiss, I have decided that the Forte works better in producing a more flaveful and complex wine with none of the caramel character that comes from the concentrate.
We are bottling the InZinerator tomorrow and will get back with a rattage after it is bottled. Want to thank everyone for all of their input.

kdjakubs wrote:Have I told you lately that you are my Superhero?!! I have to tell you, I took your 04 InZin to a wine shop here that was doing tastings every Friday night during the summer and while it was so sad to see the wine go so fast (probably because it was MY wine!), it was a huge hit here in the Northwest. Unfortunately, that wine shop closed it doors with the economy and is doing only online sales now. That said, to make up for missing out on my Friday night tastings, I recreated my living room in my home to a Wine tasting room. So I was thinking... What if we did a Woot wine tasting here with your new 07 vintage and the lovely Wooters that support your mission to make fantastic wines? For that matter, we could do this for any of your offerings and provide feedback for your consumers if you like!
Anyone in the Portland, Oregon Metro area interested in this idea?
Just a thought....

Get a big enough group together and I'll try to make it to the tasting. We don't have a distributor in Oregon, which makes it harder to justify the cost.

ScottHarveyWines wrote:Legally, we can not add sugar to wines in Califronia, except for the production of sparkling wine. So, the concentrate business was born. Concentrate is cooked down grape juice to around 68% sugar. At 68% it is to sweet to ferment and therefore stable. Most winemakers do not make a port style wine and therefore must use concentrate if they want to add residual sugar to the wine.
This harvest we had a big rain about two thirds of the way through it. The sugars on the grapes in the vineyards dropped about 2 to 4 points in the vineyard as the vines brought in the rain water and pumped it into the grapes. Winemakers have been making higher and higher alcohol wines and no longer had the natural sugar needed to produce a high alcohol wine from these vineyards. The concentrate business got a wonderful boost when they all needed concentrate to bring the sugars up before fermentation. Naturally, if you are picking Zinfandel, you would want a concentrate produced from Zinfandel. You can get just red or white concentrate or varietal concentrate such as Zinfandel, Cabernet or Riesling. There is alo a heavy red concentrate called mega red or mega purple that will turn a poorly colored wine deep red.
Regular concentrate is around $20 per gallon and mega red is around $100 per gallon. Very few wineries will admit to using concentrate and even fewer to using mega red. But, these wines using mega red do tend to get higher scores from Parker and the Wine Spectator.
If I use concentrate and am asked I always admit it. When adding residual sugar to wines like Inzinerator and One Last Kiss, I have decided that the Forte works better in producing a more flaveful and complex wine with none of the caramel character that comes from the concentrate.
We are bottling the InZinerator tomorrow and will get back with a rattage after it is bottled. Want to thank everyone for all of their input.

thank you Scott! I really like your wines, and do appreciate your honesty about wines, production practicalities and quality. I know the French look down their noses at added sugar too, but it sounds like everyone does it and it works ith grape concentrate of the right varietal. Thank you for the continued education!

So you make port. Vintage, euro-style, or an American tawny? I suspect if you bring any to market it'd be worth a taste!

[EDIT: I see, an LBV style!. When I'm rich, I'll try it! That'll be in a few years I have a case or so of Grahams '77 to get through first]

richardhod wrote:
So you make port. Vintage, euro-style, or an American tawny? I suspect if you bring any to market it'd be worth a taste!

He calls it Forté. Buy some. You'll love it.

I'm surprised no one beat me to this. I got the email an hour ago. The '07 InZINerator is being offered at 20% off (25% off for club members) until January 31st. Codeword: inzin

Can this offer be combined with a free shipping for woot members who purchased the last inzin? I think thats what the sheet said. Correct me if I'm wrong of course.

We got the new 2007 bottled on the 20th. I'm already in Wilmington NC doing a winemaker dinner tonight. The Thursday bottling was a hectic day starting at 4:30 AM and ending at about 10 PM. We produced 72 @ 3 liter bottles, 48 cases of 6/1.5L magnums and the rest being 1,723 cases 12/750ml. I am real happy with the wine. But it is not fair to have me labrat the wine. A wine maker will always tell you the last wine thay made is the best. Rather than me labrat it, I have contacted three of you who participated on the blog to do the labrating. You will be getting a private message from me asking if you want to labrat the wine and where to send it. All of you, your participation really helped in making the wine really turn out great.
Thanks so much,
Scott