To make up for last week's absence, this week we had a competition on two different wines from the same original winemaker. Last week, eight of us (yes, that is a coincidence having nothing to do with the name of the wine) sat down to a blind wine tasting to see which one we liked better. It was a great distraction to the overcooked filet mignons made by yours truly. (In my defense, trying to cook 8 filets in cast iron skillets, on a small grill, during a hurricane, is a lot harder than it sounds.)
We chose these two wines because Dave Phinney created both of them. He started with The Prisoner in 2000 and in 2008 he sold it and signed an 8-year non-compete saying he would not create another Zinfandel until it was up. Well, the time has since come that he was able to create another blend to compete with his unbelievably popular Prisoner.
Our verdict. A TIE. And I'm not even trying to be politically correct (even though a majority of the taste testers were from the D.C. area). Truthfully, everyone loved both of them and many people flip-flopped (including myself) during the tasting. We were all in agreeance that The Prisoner was a smoother wine that you could enjoy at any time. 8 Years in The Desert was more tannic and a much better compliment to the steaks (even if the steaks tasted like they had spent 8 years in the desert).
These wines can only be fully appreciated if you drink them out of your finest stemware...and as long as you have this you won't need to worry about the clean up!