This is another bargain grocery purchase, at $4.99. It's from another mystery winery. Oak Hollow is in Madera, California. They appear to be owned by a distributor of European and California wines called Supreme Wines. According to their Web site, "Oak Hollow Winery nestled in the beautiful Madera region offers ten popular varieties of California wine, each with its own distinct character, at an outstanding value." I thought it would be interesting to try a California Zinfandel, since, (and this is a confession that wine experts will, apparently, find appalling) I like Sutter Home White Zinfandel. White Zinfandel was essentially a branding term concocted by Sutter Home to describe this lovely rose-colored red wine made from California Zinfandel grapes. The "secret," of course, is that Sutter Home, like many wine makers before and since, removed the grape skins early on in the production cycle, thus affecting both the color and the flavor of the final wine.

I rather like this particular wine. It's an interesting cross between very bitter high-cocoa chocolate, and and, oddly, sweet port. It's a very deep purple, and quite lovely in the glass. It's an interesting texture too; it coats the glass more than I'd expect, and is almost thick, in an odd way that also reminds me a bit of port. The Web site notes that the fermentation was in stainless steel, followed by twelve months in two year old American Oak. The ABV is 13%. That said, this particular 2003 bottle says that the ABV is [cough] a rather substantial 15.9% ABV, which, I suspect rather explains at least some of the reason it's reminding me so very much of port. The Web site also says of the wine that it "showcases this modern, stylistic red expressing an array of dark berries, toasty oak and notes of violets. Spicy flavors and supple tannins add depth and complexity to this vibrant wine."

I'm sure that's a far more correct description—that said, I'd love to try this with really good home made tacos and fresh pico de gallo. I think this wine would stand up to and enhance the flavors, substantially. I've noticed that there are a fair number of under $10.00 California wineries producing Zinfandel; having confessed my fondness for Sutter Home's "White Zinfandel," I think I should at the very least try their Zinfandel. I also note that Catie of through the Walla Walla Grapevine has a super post on Washington Zinfandels.