Sip 'n Savor

First of all, I must apologize for my absence. I went to a still-struggling to New Orleans to visit Jason, and had an amazing wine experience. Jason lives right off of an area of Magazine St. with a lot of great coffee shops, stores, a spa, and yes, a wonderful little wine market, called Sip. Sip has their selection of wines, all quite affordable, arranged in six flavor catagories: Floral, Smokey, Fruity, Spicy (my favorite), Earthy, and Herbal. They also have a Splurge table with wines over $25, and another table, usually "Sweet." They have a nice little table with about 100 different beers and such. This store is incredibly sweet, Jennifer, the owner, gave me a hug the second time I came in, and her puppy is precious. Jason and I went to a $10 wine tasting night, Sip 'n Spin, focusing on six Herbal wines and Regge music. It was loads of fun! The other people there were great and we could walk around the store while we tasted or step outside into the 70 degree weather and chat. The wines were nice, not remarkable, but I think that Herbal is not my favorite. Spicy, please.
Speaking of spicey, the first time Jason and I went to Sip to grab a couple of bottles, we saw a lot of Zinfandel in the Spicy section and I took the initiative to introduce the boy to the wonderful grape of California. I asked Jennifer to suggest a Zin, and she pointed out a few and I decided to get a 2002 Mendicino County Zinfandel from Graziano after it was described as luscious. Two days later, we popped the Zin over a great dinner at Lebanon Cafe, where they encourage customers to bring a bottle of wine. At first taste I was taken, the fruit was literally rolling in my mouth, it was juicy and full and I died. Then the spicy! Oh pepper, what a wonder! It was like black pepper strawberries or blackberries or plums. Was this too good to be true? No. It was true, and we finished the bottle as soon as we knew it. Something was just too good about it. Upon examining the .pdf fact sheet on this wine, I found that it was slightly off-dry, with a .6% residual sugar! Aha! Oh, no, sugar! I'm sort of anti-sugar and anti-sweet right now, and oppose any beverage with too much sugar, it just isn't tasteful. Whatever. This Zin kicked butt, and I could drink a whole bottle sitting in my bedroom writing in my wineblog.

Graziano Mendicino County Zinfandel 2002
Q: 9.75
V: 9.5