Yesterday, Kara and I opened up this bottle of wine from Trader Joe’s…
Trader Joe’s Reserve 2011 Lot #71 Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel
Now…
You know I’m a big fan of these Trader Joe’s wines. At $10, it’s tough to go wrong. This wine looked really intriguing, not only because it’s from the Dry Creek Valley (a great spot for Zin), but also because it was a lot-specific wine. I was really hoping for this wine to blow me away.
But…
I gotta be honest…
This wine came off as a one-dimensional fruit bomb.
We only drank a little bit of it last night.
Tonight, Kara made this awesome dish…
Jalapeño Jelly Slow-Cooked Chicken
The chicken has a little bit of sweetness with a nice, spicy kick. It reminds me a little bit of Jamaican Jerk Chicken.
So…
I’m sitting here, eating the chicken, and thinking to myself, “Self. You know what would be good with this chicken? A nice fruit bomb of a wine. I wonder if there’s any of that Trader Joe’s Zin left.”
Sure enough, there was.
The wine still had a ripe, brambly type of red fruit to it on the front palate. There was a good acid to the wine. What was nice about this day-old wine was that some of the over-the-top fruit had given way to some nice herbal qualities.
With the chicken, the wine started to show some pretty green notes.
This wine still may not blow many of you away, but if it’s not your cup of tea, just get you some Jalapeño Jelly.
Stay Rad,
Jeff
Tags: 2011, Dry Creek Valley, Food and Wine, Lot #71, Trader Joe's Reserve, What To Do With Day-Old Wine, zinfandel
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