This weekend, I opened a bottle of 2007 Rabbit Ridge Winery Zinfandel, Central Coast, Barrel Cuvee which cost $7. Upon her first sip, TheWife said “Ugh. Where’s the Rabbit?” This was the second bottle of the night following a Rosenblum Zinfandel Vintner’s Cuvee XXX which cost $9 (see, the Plonks practice what they preach). The differences in the two couldn’t be more dramatic. Although not a blockbuster, the Rosenblum had a warm zinfandel flavor with pepper, raspberry and cherry notes, and was a good value at $9.
The Rabbit Ridge by comparison was a weedy, sour wine that would have been trounced by anything Two Buck Chuck. All I could think was that I’m going to have a headache the next day. This experience makes me wonder why Rabbit Ridge would have put its excellent brand reputation at risk. I understand that not every bottling is going to be perfect, and experimentation leads to innovation and improvements. But, selling this clearly inferior product does nothing more than harm their brand. Yes, I paid $7 for this wine because the label said Rabbit Ridge, but now I’m certainly going to think twice before buying one of their $20 offerings.
Rabbit Ridge relocated its operations from Sonoma to Paso Robles in 2001. Perhaps they left the bunny behind…
Best, Joe Plonk
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1 comment:
I was forwarded your bad experience with our Zinfandel and can only attribute it to a bad closure or something else strange. This is one of our biggest selling wines. You are correct after over 25 years i would do nothing to harm the brand. the wine has over 15% alcohol so its really full bodied. if you email the winery i will make sure you get another bottle. by the way i am the rabbit so you have found him
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