Stillman Brown Zeppelin Winery Mixed Reds

Tasting notes & discussion 100

24 HOUR SALE
Typically $54 - $66/bottle from Zeppelin Winery
Vintage 2019 from Paso Robles
Fourth wine in your order will either be TNT Tannat or Tempranillo
Available for AZ; CA; CO; CT; DC; FL; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MT; NC; ND; NE; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY
Sold by Zeppelin Winery, fulfilled by Wine Country Connect

About Zeppelin Winery
“Authorized insubordination a mere decade ago by consulting winemaker and legend Stillman Brown of Red Zeppelin infamy and his late but insufficiently silent partner Dan Lewis of Jory Winery, Zeppelin Winery is a risibly small producer of wines that one of them believes are at least more than good enough to have pretty much anything on the label. Over the last several years, most of the wines have been from grapes grown by our infamous client (redacted) and located in two recently concocted sub-appellations of west Paso Robles that split the hidden Hill of Graceland vineyard. Visitors are generally discouraged, especially if they are unlucky enough to find us. There is no tasting room. Sales are almost exclusively to our email list - there is no club to join or quit, just an invitation to a party when the one who isn’t dead yet has a ‘major birthday.’”

Stillman’s Still Stillman

TASTING NOTES:
Zinfandel - “As the complexity of its composition might suggest, this wine has a wide variety spectrum of aromas and flavors (something like Moab cherry is in there) and includes an unspecifiable amount of our Primitivo, which was fermented with the Zinfandel. Though all estate grown, this is not a field blend, but an assembly made after pressing the separate varieties.” (AbV 16.4%, TA 8.1 g/L, 79% Zinfandel 11% Alicante Bouschet 5% Counoise 5% Tannat)

Alicante Bouschet - “Not only darker, but bigger and richer than its parent Grenache, which was what we grafted over to Alicante Bouschet from. (The relationship does not come from the grafting: Alicante Bouschet is a cross of Grenache with Aramon and Teinturier du Cher.) There is an aroma suggestive of smoked venison that may be just as intentionally coincidental, though the predatory deer were seen eating the Viognier vines.” (AbV 14.9%, TA 6.6 g/L)

Syrah - “Syrah usually produces decently moderate to indecently immoderate crop levels, but by soil, vine training and when needed, savage thinning, we intentionally get barely enough fruit to make a single bottle of wine per vine. Picked so ripe that the potential alcohol would exceed Port levels (which are both inadvisable and unachievable except by fortification) instead we carefully add Jesus units (aka dihydrogen oxide) in stages to prevent stuck fermentation.” (AbV 17.2%)

Tannat - “The fortuitous location of the vineyard and our “don’t-try-to-squeeze-every-drop-out-of-the-must-you-beano-abstaining-bung” methods show that this variety isn’t naturally or unnaturally tannic or rustic, just because it sounds and was once made that way in a far corner of France: (Mad I ran*, from the first I tasted.) In the paws of our cellar monkey, it’s closer to a lost Bordeaux variety, without the leafiness; while it rivals our Zinfandel in focus and purity, it has more weight with lower alcohol (31 proof). Two-thirds aged in new oak barrels from the forests below Dracula’s castle. It’s explosively serious wine.“ (AbV 15.6%, TA 6.9 g/L)

Tempranillo - “Spicier than the Tannat that crowns the hill and often complements it, but it’s more than distinct enough to not blend them every vintage - I have kept the wines apart in recent years rather than… fusing them. We have no “house style”: within the limits of scientific enology (is that Fecaldynamic salad dressing really $140 a bottle?) fine wine should be unique, varied, interesting. Interesting less than fascinating and delicious, though.” (AbV 15.5%, TA 6.3 g/L)

PAIRS WITH (winery recommended):
I’m sure Stillman would have some suggestions if he shows up in the discussion…

OR (really-going-with-the-theme-option):
How well you are able to decipher those suggestions will likely vary.

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