I love my wine. (Zero Manipulation, Peterson Winery)

(Yes, of course tonight I would decide to open the first bottle of the mixed case of wine I brought back from Sonoma...)

Zero Manipulation 2003

ZM2003 is one of the many fine wines I got over Thanksgiving at Locals in Geyserville. (4 bottles) I was a bit concerned that maybe it wasn't so lovely, since I tasted it about halfway through our Locals odyssey, when I was drunk and my palate was probably completely desensitized. Now, I'm not sure how my current tipsiness on eggnog and residual beer affects my ability to judge wine, but...

It's an outstanding, very reasonably priced table wine. Nice vanilla-y aroma (I think that's the oak, yes?), also a leather thing and something a bit acrid. Not too sweet, well-structured, lean on the finish. (See, I'm attempting to learn wine vocabulary and law vocabulary at once. Making me a...retro-yuppie? I dunno, but I SWEAR I'm going to get a summer externship with a plaintiff-side employment law firm...(Have I become repugnant yet? I think I may have just become repugnant.)) At $12.50, for my money it's better than the $11.00 (on sale) Syrah De Blageurs from Bonny Doon, which is the best wine I've found in that price range.

And it's got an interesting story. Very small winery. The wine's a blend of 78% Carignane, 14% Syrah, 8% Mourvedre, unfiletered, not scientifically made, and the Locals guy told me they do the blend before the fermentation. That might be bullshit. "Zero Manipulation" is the winemaker's term for his wine philosophy, which seems to aspire to being Dogme 5 for wine.

It's good wine. With no Washington distributor. Damn.