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CLINE REVIEW // OLD VINE ZINFANDEL
IDYLL HOUNDS BREWING COMPANY // DIVIDE AND CONCH’R DOUBLE IPA
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line Old Vine Zinfandel comes from Sonoma, California, USA, with its fruit grown in Lodi, California.
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omething that I see a lot of breweries attempt but rarely succeed in is the double IPA. A beer that, to some, sounds like it should increase the bitterness and increase the alcohol. While that may be partially true, you have to find the proper balance to make the beer enjoyable, and that’s where most fail. More times than not, the beer is either too malty for the hop load that’s there, or the beer is just too hoppy and too intense, and then there’s that rare occurrence where the beer is just too boozy and it tastes like you’re drinking liquor. That being said, if you can find that balance between hop, malt, and alcohol, you may have something pretty tasty. Such is the case with a brewery from Santa Rosa Beach, FL called Idyll Hounds Brewing Company. They produce, in my opinion, a perfectly executed double India pale ale called Divide and other beers I’ve had. Conch’r. Here are my thoughts:
According to the wine’s tasting notes, within Lodi there are seven distinct growing areas. Almost all this wine’s grapes came from the Mokelumne River AVA, which is said to be home of the majority of the “old vines.” The grapes for this wine were harvested between August 23rd and September 17th. The wine itself was aged in 35% new French Oak with a medium toast level (which came through in the tasting below) and racked for 6-8 months. Lastly, the winemakers (Charlie and Tom) have stated that this wine can either be enjoyed now or aged for a few years to develop additional character. For more about this wine, check out the Cline Cellars website. Cline Old Vine Zinfandel Wine Review
Idyll Hounds only offers their beers in cans and kegs, which is how it should be in my opinion. So, I poured this beer from the can into a pint glass and immediately noticed a nice orange, rust color with not much light coming through the glass and about a finger width of semi-fluffy, off-white head. There was already a good bit of lacing developing on the sides of the glass as I let the beer sit while I took my photos.
Mouthfeel is on the heavier side, but I expected that from the color and lack of light coming through the glass. This is definitely not a beer I’m trying to drink more than one of at a time, because it does settle in your stomach and get you feelin’ right if you catch my drift. At 8%, this is a beer that deserves to be enjoyed with a meal. I can see this going really well with seafood, poultry, or some nice roasted veggies.
The first thing you notice about this beer is the smell; tons of earthy and citrus aromas as soon as the beer hit the glass. You also can pick up a bit of grapefruit and pine in the aroma too, which is really indicative of most Northwest DIPAs.
I will definitely be picking up more of this beer, and to be honest, it was much better than I was anticipating. I plan on trying more of their beers as soon as I can, because I can only imagine that the quality and technique didn’t stop with this beer. So, as always, if you can find it, drink it. Cheers!
Taste follows the nose for the most part with those same citrus and herbal notes. Up front you get good bit of hop bitterness that changes to an intense grapefruit and orange flavor. Midways through you start to pick up a good bit of sweetness from the malt and that pretty much takes over through the rest of each sip. The finish is dry and still dominated by that malty sweetness, but you do get a bit of that hop bitterness on the back of your tongue and cheeks; this is where the herbal notes along with some tropical fruit that wasn’t in the nose come into play. You get some pine and what, to me, tastes like tobacco in the finishing hop notes. A really complex list of flavors, I know, but it’s not like many
From the bottle: Some of the vines for our Old Vine Zinfandel date back to 1942, making them 70+ years old. They’ve lived a long life, developing character and depth along the way… Sample of Cline Old Vine Zinfandel 2015 received for review purposes. Appearance Cline Old Vine Zinfandel is burgundy in color with a tinge of purple and red raspberry. It’s not overly dark and a fair amount of light shines through. It coats up the glass quite well and leaves legs that are numerous and quick to fall.
red raspberry. Quite lovely. Though jammy, this wine’s flavors were “warm on the palate” to me, versus a heavy dark blend which would be much more soft. While not overly complex in taste, Cline Old Vine Zinfandel gives you a nice clean focused flavor reminiscent of Oregon Pinot Noir. Mouthfeel and Tannins On the palate you get a linen like mouthfeel that’s reasonably smooth. The tannins are present but quite supple. They balance out the wine’s flavor nicely and are noticeable all over the palate. Finish Cline Old Vine Zinfandel is a long finishing red wine and the finish strikes a balance between the flavors and tannins.
Aroma I was immediately drawn to this wine’s soft combination of vanilla and floral aromas. Very enjoyable. There’s also a very slight note of dark chocolate and a hint of cherry. I gave it a strong sniff, but didn’t feel any significant sting of alcohol in my nose. Cline Old Vine Zinfandel alcohol content 14.0% by volume, per the bottle. Taste Tasting this wine revealed flavors of cherry and ripe
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Overall Opinion Overall, well done Cline! I found this Zin to be elegant, balanced and uncomplicated in quality. Cline Old Vine Zinfandel price $10.99 SRP. A great well-under $20 choice in my opinion. Suggested Food Pairing As I was drinking this wine, I kept thinking that Prime Rib would be an excellent pairing choice. Prime Rib (to me) is a more clean tasting beef then say a rib eye or a strip. Given this wine’s elegance and clean flavor, go with a Prime Rib for a nice balanced pairing.
SEPT 20 + OCT 4
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