With only a couple hours remaining in 2009, some of us at the coöp have been charged with the task of drinking various wines and rating them based on a number of criteria.

Chianti
Sanguineti 2008

Z: Flowery.  Surprisingly not dry! Tastes as if walking through a garden of poppies and being suddenly attacked by a badger. Vote: OK.
JZG: Barbecue aroma. New Orleans-esque.  Taste: Rose perfume.  Vote: Nice.
MM: Light body.  Rose aroma.  Dry.
VW: Offensiveness: 7.  Drinkability: 3

Merlot
Yakima River 2004

Z: Holy fuck pungent bouquet, coats the mouth, chemical flavor, reminds me of a dark room or artists studio (Wilcox, 2009).  Vote: Good, but in small amounts.
JZG: Chemical bouqet. Very pungent. Knock you down. Taste: Nutty, Schisandra, Chemical. Non-astringent. Vote: So-so.
MM: I’m a huge piece of poo (Wallace, 2009)
VW: Biting into chemistry class.  Offensiveness: 7.5, Drinkability: 3, Intensity: 8.5

Tempranillo
Protocolo 2007

JZG: More floral (than Campos Reales 2008) Light, medium body.  Mildly astringent. Vote: Eh.
Z: More full-bodied. Closer to whole milk.  Smoky-ish.  Marionberry.  Molasses in the smell, JZG don’t know shit. Vote: Yummy.
VW: Oh no.  Offensiveness: 9, Drinkability: 2.  Yikes!
MM: Medium-light body. Strawberry.  Cedar aroma. Slight smokiness.

Campos Reales

JZG: Floral bouquet. Light body. Mildly astringent. Vote: Eh.
Z: Florality in the bouquet. Very light body. A minor tang. Vote: So-so.
MM: Light body. Simple fruit flavors.
VW: Makes me feel all right. Dry? Intensity: 6, Drinkability: 4

Valpolicella
Zenato 2006

MM: Raspberry aroma.  Medium-light body.
JZG: Great body! But very little taste. Close to good. Vote: fine
Z: A nice tang at first, but, alack, a virtually tasteless finish. Vote: Eh
VW: Nice. Tanged the tongue w/n scope of acceptability. Offensiveness: 4, Drinkability: 8

Zinfandel
7 Deadly Zins

JZG: Bouquet. Hoppy.  Molasses. Taste coconut. Body: light-medium.
VW: Relatively unoffensive.  Drinkable.
MM: Medium body. Molasses. Brown sugar aroma.  Semi-sweet plum cherry flavor.
Z: Mid-body, molasses; Vote: Lovely.

Riesling
Snoqualmie 2008

Z: I picture a young girl cleaning with some kind of chemical solution when I smell. It is refreshing.  Perhaps best in the summer.  But in the dead of winter, it is a tad sweet. Dead swans would love this stuff. Vote: Pretty OK in certain circumstances.
VW: Fruitful. Cold. Fruity. Offensively sweet.  Sweetfully undrinkable in high quantities.
JZG: Peach shit.

Manischewitz
American Concord Grape

JZG: Religious intolerance of my childhood.
Jamie: [No comment]

Happy New Year, everyone!