2005 Portteus Zinfandel

Portteus is a 74 acre, family operated winery in Washington's Yakima Valley. Their winery is very scenic and they have big fuzzy dogs. But that's not the real story here. The real story here is their Zinfandel.

I got the bottles at the Winery. I remember hitting the Zin in the tasting room--I hadn't had any coffee yet and it woke me up. Then a few months later I opened the bottle and poured some for some friends. My friend Don took one sip, squished up his nose, let out a moan crossed with a "yuk" and put the glass down, never to taste it again. He's not a red wine fan.

Oh. My. God. The 2005 Portteus Zinfandel is a monster. I mean, it's huge. I don't know how the wine fits in the bottle. You want pepper? You got it. You want to taste the rocks in the soil? This is the ultimate expression of the soil.

You want a wine that can stand up to The Man? This is a wine that can beat down anything. In fact, you'll need to eat something fairly strong with this wine.

(Those of you who don't know, The Man is a hot sauce made from, in no particular order: pure capsicum powder, Mexican insanity peppers, transmission fluid, and tear gas; further reading here.)

This is probably the most unique wine I have tasted in Washington state. At $26, you need to have some of this wine in your collection.