Zeppelin Winery Mixed Reds

Tasting notes & discussion 44

Typically $54 - $68/bottle from Zeppelin Winery
Vintage 2021 from Paso Robles
Available for AZ; CA; CO; CT; DC; FL; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MT; NC; ND; NE; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; SD; TX; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY
Sold by participating winery or licensee, fulfilled by Wine Country Connect

About Zeppelin Winery: “In ancient times, long ago, hundreds of years before the dawn of history, the consulting winemaker, assistant cellar sock monkey, and rock band mismanager Stillman Brown of Red Zeppelin infamy, and his footloose and still insufficiently silent mouthpiece and de factoid attorney GD Lewis of Jory Winery, became Zeppelin Winery, and even since then have wines that at least one of them believes are at least more than good enough to have pretty much anything on the label, excepting hallucinogenic drugs. Over the last decade, most of the wines have been from grapes grown by one of our crazier clients, in two concocted subappellations of west Paso Robles that split the hidden Hill of Graceland vineyard. He drives the tractor and poormouths himself, I do everything else… Sales are almost exclusively to our email list, though we make irregular appearances on Casemates.com.”

The Curious Case of Stillman Brown

(The Abbreviated) TASTING NOTES:
Tempranillo - “Meaty spicy ribs, dried cherries without the acidity, and a whiff of maduro cigar tobacco without the smoke. Tannins? Yes; structurally it could maybe sorta almost pass for a high end 80’s Napa Cab, before the fashion changed. The '19, the best of the last decade of our Tempranillos, was no deeper. If I had only bottle of this wine, I might wait two years to open it.” (AbV 15.4%, TA 7.6 g/L)

Tannat - “It’s a Castle Bravo scale fruit bomb, with ridiculous amounts of an heirloom plum I’ve forgotten the name of - it definitely wasn’t ‘Pruno’, though. Tannins? Well, they must be in there somewhere, and they are, but quite subtle. The wine really is unique and delicious. The label? Unique and delirious.” (AbV 15.6%, TA 6.8 g/L)

La Mort du Roi - “North block 877 Syrah, darker and spicier than the south block if not quite as ripe, and almost one-fifth of the aforementioned Tannat. I didn’t think I had a ‘La Mort’ candidate for '21, as the Alicante and Tempranillo lacked either the flavor extraction or structural character to make this wine what it is, or has been in the past.” (AbV 16.7%, TA 7.4 g/L)

Syrah - “The ripe raging southern block of Syrah we have often poured into new oak barrels, but this is a different approach: it’s almost a thirteenth Viognier. (No, they were not cofermented. I won’t flip my finger at that fashion in print or public, but, no.) Moab and black cherry, vanilla and a hint of…banana? At one bottle per vine, you expect, and this delivers, fruit concentration and complexity. But this is drinkable, if you like, now.” (AbV 17.1%, TA 7.0 g/L)

PAIRS WITH (winery recommended): You’re gonna have to ask Stillman (if you dare).

OR (really-going-with-the-theme-option): Whatever comes to mind. Just go for it. Be inspired by Stillman’s evocative yet unhinged words, his brain put to paper. It is within our unrefined rambling that we can often find the true diamonds in the rough.

Who's buying this?

How are you buying your bottles?

Which of these four piques your interest most?

Tannat, "Constructo"

Tannat, "Constructo"
Tempranillo, “Dynamite Hill”

Tempranillo, “Dynamite Hill”
"La Mort du Roi"

"La Mort du Roi"
Syrah, “Lost Mine”

Syrah, “Lost Mine”
All of them

All of them

37 votes