Gnarly Head Old Vine Zinfandel 2015

Why did I choose this wine? Well, for two simple reasons: it was right next to the meat in the grocery store, and I have no idea what a zinfandel is. I know that this is apparently from an old vine and it’s from the Lodi region in California (a region known for its zinfandel), but all of that can be found on the front of the bottle. Time to Googe!

Zinfandel is a grape that is grown all over the damn place in America. Outside of America? Looks to only be in Italy. It’s a black grape varietal that can be made into rosé wine called White Zinfandel. Normally White Zinfandel is a lot sweeter and lower in alcohol so I tend to ignore it entirely. Zinfandel can also be made into a red wine which I am drinking right now. These wines are usually fuller in body, high alcohol, and fairly tannic.

Now that that’s over with let’s get to the wine! This wine is spicy and hot and spicy and acidic. So little bit of advice: don’t drink after eating sour patch kids, the little sour sugar stays in your mouth and destroys your tongue. The nose is spicy, not like hot spicy, but baking spicy. I get cinnamon, clove, and allspice. Then the flavor is totally different, black cherry, plum, vanilla, and just a bit of wood spice.

The label is interesting. The logo appears to be a gnarled, head trained grape vine (which is where the name Gnarly Head comes from), and not much else. Honestly if this wine wasn’t on an endcap and less than $10 I probably never would’ve picked it up.

Now on to the most fun part of this job. Food pairing? Food Pairing!! This is usually difficult, but this wine goes surprisingly well with spicy food. The alcohol burn can help amplify the spiciness, so be careful with too much spice. If you love Taco Bell and Chipotle, but also want to look fancy by drinking wine, this is the best wine pairing you’ll get! Also makes a fairly decent chaser for Ancho Reyes Chili Liqueur.

Not that I’m taking shots right now…