I’m trying to branch out. Everyone knows that California makes killer Cabernets. I also enjoy Cabernet-driven Bordeaux from France and bottles from Ontario and the Pacific Northwest.
My quest for adventure – and value – led me to pick up three bottles of Zolo Reserve Cabernet during an online sale. The wine is from Argentina’s most famous wine-growing region, Mendoza. I purchased it at $18 a bottle.
Normally I would let a bottle like this age for a few more years. But I reckoned that with Argentina’s propensity for fruit forward, “pop and pour” wines, that this would be ready to consume now. Did I make the right choice?
In the glass this wine is a deep red with ruby edges. On the nose there are aromas of fruit and leather. Not surprisingly, the body is medium rather than full.
This wine is juicy with intense raspberry and sour cherry flavors. There’s a good swirl of spice in the mix as well. Tannins are a bit rugged. To me, the Zolo has the right ingredients, but they are not yet fully assembled.
Additional aging is needed to allow the tannins to integrate into a better balanced package. In retrospect, this could have used some decanting as well.
That’s the nice thing about buying multiple bottles. I’ve taken the pulse on the first bottle, but have two more that I can allow to age and compare against my first sip.
Zolo is a fair to nice bottle right now, but will improve significantly with time.
Rating: 2.5 of 5 Value: 3 of 5
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