Harvest Moon Late Harvest Zinfandel Half-Bottle 4-Pack
$69.99 (Normally $148.90) 53% off List Price
2009 Harvest Moon Late Harvest Zinfandel 375ml
2008 Harvest Moon Late Harvest Zinfandel 375ml
CT links above

Winery website

Previous offers:
4/27/12
2/22/11

I've had the 2008 a few times. It's very comparable to the Woot! Cellars Vinito del Finito.

Tart raspberry with moderate sweetness and some peppery spice.
Enjoyable dessert wine. I'm in for a set.

EDIT: This is $2.50 less per bottle than previous offers - Bonus!

Do my eyes deceive me... The price is actually $2.50 lower per bottle than the previous offer?

I have a bottle of this I can open when I get home! I'll report back later with notes.

chipgreen wrote:I've had the 2008 a few times. It's very comparable to the Woot! Cellars Vinito del Finito.

Tart raspberry with moderate sweetness and some peppery spice.
Enjoyable dessert wine. I'm in for a set.

EDIT: This is $2.50 less per bottle than previous offers - Bonus!

got a bit of Harvest Moon in the cellar @ ~$13/750mL and enjoyed them, and Finito @ $10/375mL I've enjoyed. I'm gonna need some convening here @ $17.50/375mL.

Low ABV, nice pH is good for starters however.

I had the 2009 in the TR. no detailed notes, but it was good enough I paid $28 per 375. And I'm frugal.

Just popped a bottle of the 2008 Harvest Moon LH Zin and it is great juice! Very bright and fresh, red fruit flavors; not what I was expecting from a late harvest wine. A fair amount of complexity to it, would standalone well as an aperitif.

Color: Ruby with light color concentration, f.uchsia near the meniscus.

Nose: Very aromatic. Cherry, pomegranate, raspberry, cocoa and pepper spice. A bit of redvine emerges as the wine sits in the glass

Palate: Racy acidity that balances the RS very well. Nice body and mouth feel. Juicy! Pomegranate, raspberry and cocoa carryover to the mid-palate. Raspberry and cocoa on the 20-30 second finish. Silky tannin

Overall, a very pleasant wine! Very different from the heavy, sweet dessert wines I encounter often. The acidity in this wine will make your mouth water. Delicious.

rjquillin wrote:got a bit of Harvest Moon in the cellar @ ~$13/750mL and enjoyed them, and Finito @ $10/375mL I've enjoyed. I'm gonna need some convening here @ $17.50/375mL.

Low ABV, nice pH is good for starters however.

If you don't mind sharing your secret, how did you manage to get that kind of pricing on the Harvest Moon 750mL? Is it the same late harvest Zin as what's being offered today?

As far as the Finito, that's the same price I paid when I last ordered it here on 10/7/2011. If I had any idea of what I was getting into, I would have been in for three. My four bottles are long gone (two of which were gifts.)

chipgreen wrote:I've had the 2008 a few times. It's very comparable to the Woot! Cellars Vinito del Finito.

Tart raspberry with moderate sweetness and some peppery spice.
Enjoyable dessert wine. I'm in for a set.

EDIT: This is $2.50 less per bottle than previous offers - Bonus!

After reading ajrod27's thorough tasting notes, now I'm curious. Would you say these Harvest Moon LH Zins have more acidity than the Vinito del Finito? Also is there a significant difference between the 2008 & 2009 vintages in terms of acidity? Thanks in advance for your help.

coolchris160 wrote:After reading ajrod27's thorough tasting notes, now I'm curious. Would you say these Harvest Moon LH Zins have more acidity than the Vinito del Finito? Also is there a significant difference between the 2008 & 2009 vintages in terms of acidity? Thanks in advance for your help.

I believe the 2008 Harvest Moon LH Zin has more acidity and a brighter character than the Vinito del Finito. The Vinito is fuller bodied and possesses darker fruit aromas and flavors. Though, both are excellent wines!

I have not tasted the 2009 Harvest Moon LH Zin, so I can't compare the two vintages.

WOO HOO!!! Va is on the list!! WOO HOO!!!

ajrod27 wrote:Just popped a bottle of the 2008 Harvest Moon LH Zin and it is great juice! Very bright and fresh, red fruit flavors; not what I was expecting from a late harvest wine. A fair amount of complexity to it, would standalone well as an aperitif.

Color: Ruby with light color concentration, f.uchsia near the meniscus.

Nose: Very aromatic. Cherry, pomegranate, raspberry, cocoa and pepper spice. A bit of redvine emerges as the wine sits in the glass

Palate: Racy acidity that balances the RS very well. Nice body and mouth feel. Juicy! Pomegranate, raspberry and cocoa carryover to the mid-palate. Raspberry and cocoa on the 20-30 second finish. Silky tannin

Overall, a very pleasant wine! Very different from the heavy, sweet dessert wines I encounter often. The acidity in this wine will make your mouth water. Delicious.

What an incredible description- very thorough! Thank you.

slm9951 wrote:What an incredible description- very thorough! Thank you.

It appears you can buy this in a wine shop for less; check it out:

http://www.wine-searcher.com/wine-85286-0001-harvest-moon-late-harvest-zinfandel-russian-river-valley-usa

It appears you can buy this in a wine shop for less; check it out:

http://www.wine-searcher.com/wine-85286-0001-harvest-moon-late-harvest-zinfandel-russian-river-valley-usa

Prices on the above site are for full 750ml bottles.

rejiii wrote:It appears you can buy this in a wine shop for less; check it out:

http://www.wine-searcher.com/wine-85286-0001-harvest-moon-late-harvest-zinfandel-russian-river-valley-usa

Prices on the above site are for full 750ml bottles.

Well, clearly my math is not as powerful as yours. The average on that website claims to be $50 per 750ml bottle, not including tax or shipping. Here, Woot is charging $75 for the equivalent of TWO 750ml bottles, including tax and shipping. To be fair to you, it does show the price of a bottle dipping to $45 per 750ml bottle for a month or so two years ago.

So I guess you can pay your $50 before shipping and I'll pay Woot's $37.50 after shipping for each 750ml equivalent bottle.

Bione wrote:Well, clearly my math is not as powerful as yours. The average on that website claims to be $50 per 750ml bottle, not including tax or shipping. Here, Woot is charging $75 for the equivalent of TWO 750ml bottles, including tax and shipping. To be fair to you, it does show the price of a bottle dipping to $45 per 750ml bottle for a month or so two years ago.

So I guess you can pay your $50 before shipping and I'll pay Woot's $37.50 after shipping for each 750ml equivalent bottle.

Be careful, I don't want to have to clean up any dripping sarcasm.

But my math agrees with yours.

coolchris160 wrote:If you don't mind sharing your secret, how did you manage to get that kind of pricing on the Harvest Moon 750mL? Is it the same late harvest Zin as what's being offered today?

No, not the LH Woot has here today, but other 750mL HM offerings we've seen on Woot over the years for some PN, CS, Zin, Gewürz and a blend. Not a grape-to-grape comparison, perhaps grape-to-goosberry.

pH, ABV and RS are all substantially lower on this than Peter's Vinito. Other than a LH Zin I'm surprised that they are that similar. Peter did make an '08 LH Zin some of us picked up on tour for under $25/500 or 750mL, (gotta find a bottle and verify size) but I've not pulled a cork and can't find any specs, sigh. Wondering if anyone has notes on that one for comparison.

ajrod27 is making this very difficult for me.

I Haven't had this wine, but I like the specs from a winemakers point of view. Should be a nice wine as described by ajrod27.

coolchris160 wrote:After reading ajrod27's thorough tasting notes, now I'm curious. Would you say these Harvest Moon LH Zins have more acidity than the Vinito del Finito? Also is there a significant difference between the 2008 & 2009 vintages in terms of acidity? Thanks in advance for your help.

I've not had the 2009 but I don't think there is a significant difference in the acidity between the 2008 and the Vinito del Finito.

EDIT: Apparently the specs and ajrod disagree with me. I was going by memory so I'll defer to ajrod and the supporting pH numbers.

Took a look at my 2009 bottle and I think there may be a typo on the RS stat. On the bottle it's states 6.9 g/L.

I'm confused. What makes this a dessert wine and not a regular zin?

melaniestl wrote:I'm confused. What makes this a dessert wine and not a regular zin?

The sweetness. The grapes were harvested toward the end of the season after they had the chance to increase their natural sugar concentration.

I think I have a couple of bottles left (my CT is not accurate at all) and they are wonderful. There is no room left in my coolers as the wife makes too many trips overseas and keeps me stocked up or I would be in for another woot.

I've tried the Ridge Late Harvest Zinfandels, but those are the only late harvest zins I've ever had, given that it's a fairly rare find. How is the Harvest Moon similar and different to the Ridge?

Gah, WD is making this tough for me. SIWBM must stand, though. If you're looking to buy, however, this is nice juice. Tried both the 2008 and 2009 at the winery about 2 years ago (so the 2009 had just been released) and enjoyed the 2008 more - took a bottle home. For calibration, my tastes in dessert wine run to the high acid end of things.

bkarlan wrote:The sweetness. The grapes were harvested toward the end of the season after they had the chance to increase their natural sugar concentration.

I think I have a couple of bottles left (my CT is not accurate at all) and they are wonderful. There is no room left in my coolers as the wife makes too many trips overseas and keeps me stocked up or I would be in for another woot.

Thanks! I'm in.

Simply one of my favorite wines. I was actually sad when the last drop fell.

***EDIT

New Year's resolution fail - in for 3

rjquillin wrote:No, not the LH Woot has here today, but other 750mL HM offerings we've seen on Woot over the years for some PN, CS, Zin, Gewürz and a blend. Not a grape-to-grape comparison, perhaps grape-to-goosberry.

pH, ABV and RS are all substantially lower on this than Peter's Vinito. Other than a LH Zin I'm surprised that they are that similar. Peter did make an '08 LH Zin some of us picked up on tour for under $25/500 or 750mL, (gotta find a bottle and verify size) but I've not pulled a cork and can't find any specs, sigh. Wondering if anyone has notes on that one for comparison.

ajrod27 is making this very difficult for me.

..not familiar with HM wines, are these usually line priced?

Better late ( no pun intended) than never. Just opened my 2009. Initially bright fruit, great acid, and no cloying sweetness to speak of. Quite delicious. Will report back once it has opened and warmed up. In the meantime I am in for at least 1 order.

kaolis wrote:..not familiar with HM wines, are these usually line priced?

Line priced?