Flavor is Good-Josh Reserve Bourbon Barrel Zinfandel 2021

Josh Reserve Bourbon Barrel Zinfandel 2021

Bourbon barrels are charred.

Wine Barrels are toasted.

Bourbon barrel flavors can overpower wine, unless handled properly.

The bourbon flavors here are handled in textbook fashion!

Barrel flavors are not everything in wine.

But they do add texture and flavor.

These wines are fun to experience.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Hey, Domain Dave, cheapwinefinder.com. And we got another wine review for you that we always do. Here we go. It's the Josh Reserve Bourbon Barrel Zimpendale 2021. Josh Reserve is Joseph Carr. He's a Samalay and he had he had his own wine wine thing going. And he came up with Josh in 2006 to honor his father. And here's my wine truism to get out of the way. Any winery winemaker who has a wine that he names after a loved one, the matriarch of the family, a daughter, son, wife, anything, that is the very last wine they're going to cut quality up. I mean, every other wine in their line, they might have to go out and buy cheaper grapes or do something, but that one they're going to keep it good. So Josh, named after his father, he's going to keep the quality up. And this is reserve wine. Um, it's a$21,$22 wine, and it's usually about$18, 19. But I found it for$10, and that's because uh wine, wine and spirits and beer are way off. And wine shops do not want at the end of the year to have stacks and stacks of uh cases of wine that they couldn't sell. And so, to a lot of times to get you in the store, they will drop a wine or two in their weekly wine sale at 50%. You go, I can't mess that up. And once you're in there, you might buy one or two other ones, and that's how they kind of get you back in the shop because we couldn't make people quit going to the shop and give you some good wine. So, this is a wine I probably wouldn't have um purchased. I mean, I'm familiar with Josh Wines, but this one, you know, probably would have uh let this one go. So, what do we got here? Um, it's a Zinfandel, it's from California, um, which isn't really what I want to hear. Um, where Zinfandel is from, Lodi, it's gonna be one way, Dry Creek, it's gonna be something else. Uh, Central Coast, it's gonna be something else. Always a little bit different. So just saying California for what is essentially a$22 wine is like, hey, uh come on, give me a little something more than that. But they didn't. Um and and then we got the bourbon barrel. Um let's go into that a little bit. Typically, there's a couple different ways you can add you can finish wine. Wine barrels are toasted, and this is the difference between like having a you know, put it in your toaster, you put a toast a piece of bread in there and it toast it, and you know, setting the toasting thing on high and it comes out charred black. Whiskey it stands up to the char, which is this whiskey, the bourbon barrel has been charred. Wine doesn't really do that, but then again, whiskey is in the barrel for well in Scotland 12, 15, 18 years. In Tennessee and Kentucky, maybe four or five, six. It's a lot warmer there. It doesn't need the extra years. Here it was in a bourbon barrel, used bourbon barrel, charred bourbon barrel for two months. So they didn't, from what I could what they say on their website, they didn't age it like always and then go to the this is a hundred percent two months because there's a lot of flavor to be given in two months, and that's how they went about it. I'm gonna take another sip here. The alcohol in this is 15%, which is kind of high. But if you're gonna do it, do it with Zinfandel, because Zinfandel can be a big bold fun wine. And this is a big, bold, fun wine. The first wines I ever red wines I ever got into was Zinfandel. I think it was uh Ravenswood, no wimpy wines a long time ago, and they were fun. And one thing about the Zinfandel grape, you know, they say the primitivo from uh Puglia in Italy and Zinfandel are the same thing, but they're not. Because in California, you know, like a bunch of grapes, you see those bunches, there can be in the same bunch perfectly ripe grapes, too ripe, not just starting to ripen, and some that turn it into prunes, and you know, all on one bunch. And what they do is they don't pick the bad ones out or anything, they put it all together, and that's why Zinfandel's a little bit different every other wine, because it could be spicy, and not every bunch is gonna have that, but a lot of the bunches will, and it's kind of like um it's kind of like a roulette wheel. You don't know what you're gonna get with all the different bunches, so you kind of Zinfandel's fun in that regard, and I like Zinfandel that's a little rustic, a little rough, and around the edges. You know, the other wines can be classy and you know, and sleek and elegant, but give me Zinfandel, it's rustic. It I don't need everyone to be um to be in baccarat glasses. You can take something that you can just drink and have a good time with, and that's what this one is. So there you go. This is the Josh Reserve bourbon barrel Zinfandel 2021. I got it for half price. Check out the paper. I mean, if it's 17, 18, I would buy it just because it's it's actually a good wine, it's full of flavor. They're not they didn't skimp on the flavor. The um the bourbon barrel does add a few flavors there that you don't normally get. Um, the 15% alcohol gives you a pretty much of a riper uh flavor to the wine. I I I read somewhere it's like it's on the it's on the right on the edge of being a dry wine and a slightly sweet wine. And with 15% alcohol, uh that's the sugar. Uh I can see where that could happen. I'm gonna take a little bit more of the sip and we'll talk about it. Yep, it tastes good, it's fun. It is um you can find out CL go for it. At the regular price, if you just want to try a really good wine, uh it's a little bit different. Uh, I wish I told ms told me more about it. I if I knew it was Loda, if I knew it was Drag Creek, if I knew it was this, I would you know maybe like it a little well not like it a little more, but a little bit more comfortable with it. But uh the Josh Reserve Bourbon Durl Zinfandel 20.1 is a lot of fun, tastes great. Uh makes me I haven't had a couple of good I haven't had I haven't loved the Zinfandel for a while. This one's kind of getting me back at it. Audio skip it cheap. I'll talk to everybody in a couple days.