A couple of months ago, I had lunch with some friends at a popular Chinese restaurant in town.  We hadn’t seen these friends in awhile because they’d recently had a baby and weren’t going out while the family all got acclimated to each other.  Since they had baby in tow, we decided to meet closer to their house.  The food was great, baby Vivienne was incredibly cute, and our visit was lots of fun.  It was lunch, so none of us chose to imbibe, but ….

On the way home, I noticed the sign for a store called World Market.  It was a Saturday, we didn’t have any pressing engagements, so we stopped in to have a look around.  Why not?  Lo and behold, this store not only carries a variety of products similar to what you might expect in a Pier 1, for instance, they also carry an assortment of wines.  Well now!  A new source of wine selections?  I’m game!

After perusing the bottles on hand (yes, I looked through the whole lot – lol), I grabbed up this Zinfandel to try.  After all, it’s from Lodi, California, the self-proclaimed “Zinfandel Capital of the World.”

Winemaker:  Castle Rock
Vintage: 2011
Varietal:  Zinfandel
Appellation:  Lodi, California
Price: $10.99 at World Market

Notes:  Color was a pretty, medium ruby.  The bouquet was a vibrant mix of black raspberry, earth and spice.  The body was fairly light, acidity was good, and tannins were medium.  Alcohol was 13.5%.  As for flavors, this Lodi Zin was quite woody with a fruit core of black raspberry, plenty of pepper, as well as touches of spearmint and tea leaf.  I thought it was quite enjoyable.  Although it may have been a tad on the light side, I wouldn’t turn down a glass.  Always with a mind toward a good value, I snagged this selection at World Market for $7.68 on sale.