Valdez Rockpile Road Zinfandel

Talk about The Attack of the Killer Zin! How the hell hadn't I heard about this juice before?! Hey, y'all can tell me about a wine sometime, hear me? Dang guurrll, one sippa this 17% alcohol bruiser and you get the picture...sweet crude, baby. Say it with me. Just like an oil slick of yummy goodness oozing down your gullet. Grab the reigns and hold on tight! Woo Hoo! Grab a chug of this and it'll do the Men In Black mind-eraser (get one here $159) on any negative connotations from that other Valdez...

Nope, and if you were thinking...did that alcoholic (I don't mean that in a bad way) rat-bastard (I do mean that in a bad way) ship pilot Joseph Hazlewood made amends to the world, and hundred if not thousands of fish and waterfowl, by hand-crafting a Zin named after his big f-up? That's right, you guessed it! HEY WAKE UP. Damn. Better yet, just close this tab in Firefox and don't return. That dick may have hit the sauce, but you actually thought he had the chops to pull this off? No sirree, this wine has a much more heart warming origin. As that dude on In Living Color always said, Wrote a Song About it, Wanna hear it? Here it go:

(cue Gene Hackman voice over) From a remote village in Michoacan, Mexico, to the vineyards of Sonoma County, this is the story of Ulises Valdez'  pursuit of the American Dream, culminating in the first releases of Valdez Family Winery, on July 8, 2006. This year marks twenty years in the vineyard business for Ulises, first as field worker, then as a partner in the vineyard management business, and now owner of Valdez and Sons Vineyard Management. Working on several hundred acres of vineyards has enabled Ulises to select some of his favorite blocks for his first wines. Collaborators include such acclaimed winemakers as Mark Aubert, Jeff Cohn, Paul Hobbs, Kent Rosenblum and Rolando Herrera.

The Valdez Rockpile Zinfandel hails from the same vineyard as Rosenblum's Rockpile Zin,(btw rated Wine Spectator's #3 wine in the world) so you know the fruit is gonna kick it.

Tastes? Now now, you all know to scroll to the bottom for the meat if you want to skip the rant...Big, rich and luxurious, this heavyweight Zin floats like a butterfly (an iron one anyway) and stings you like a bee. That 'ol buzz fairy comes along to tap you on the shoulder pretty fast, let's just say. There's not a shy bone in this wine's body. Whew. Got it? Great balance of smack-you-between-the-eyes alcohol and exotic blackberry, winter spice, and chocolate notes. On the finish you'll just love the crap out of the smoky espresso notes. Yummy! 

We found it at Houston's Restaurant on The Embarcadero in San Francisco, but realizing the worldwide popularity of VinDivine, I understand that is only relevant to a very small percentage of our faithful readers. A very puny percentage, in fact.  Too bad it's sold out on the Valdez Winery website so you'll have to find it elsewhere on the world wide web. Hey Valdez, sell more off your own site and keep the margins! Why give it to people like K&L?! They don't even provide shopping carts. (sorry I couldn't help myself).

Oh yeah, goes for about $36. Hey don't whine it's good.