For some reason, I was on this notion that super high alcohol values would yield the right wine for the night. From past experiences I know that (depending on the producer) higher alcohol percentages usually tell me that the wine will be big and fruity with sweeter notes and fruitier tones - more alcohol, more sugar there was to produce it. I'm no expert and I very well may be wrong about this whole thing but it's what I thought at the moment.
So I walked into the local Trader Joes and searched for the high alcohol bottles. My highest numbers were all zinfandels.
I chose to walk out with the Ravens Wood primarily because of the way the bottle looked. I was going to Friday night dinner and you have to admit the Ravens Wood does a good job on their bottle's design so I didn't feel bad walking in empty handed now and also, what I brought looks cool. For a little less then $15, this Zin wasn't bad but it wasn't really great either.
Because of the high alcohol, the wine wouldn't cool down. It was so hot from the alcohol that right away I decanted it so it could breathe more but that didn't really help either.
I tried a glass at the end of the night and it was still as hot as it was three hours earlier, when I opened the bottle.
Now, it's really not a bad bottle, but I expected more. This for me is just another lesson that for quality, you have to pay $$$.
