This past year I came up with the project of bringing a list of some of the best bargain bottles of 2007 - about 80 bottles long - to wine merchants to ask if they had anything in stock. 

It was through this effort that I managed to find the wine for which this posting is named: 2005 Turley Zinfandel Juvenile.  Going through my list with the manager of a local wine shop, it seemed that we were headed for a lost cause until he came to this bottle, which he remembered he’d had in his store-room for six months but never had the chance to put out on the shelf.  Success!  

While I can assure you that it is still available for purchase, you may no longer be able to buy it for the $22 that it sold for back in November due to declining availability.  In fact, on one site I saw it retailing at $40.

Still, if you do end up tracking down this wine, you’ll be tasting one of our favorite Zinfandels from last year.  Even beginning with the nose, you know you’re in for something good: I picked up scents of liquorice, dark red fruit and pepper.   On the taste, I found a lighter-than-usual body relative to the normally heavy Zinfandel from Central California, which - due to ripening by the hot climate - can be a meal in and of itself.  My favorite quality of all: the abundance of pepperiness and spice, which shines through especially on the finish, that is so typical of this varietal. 

High marks for this one, even at $40.