Thank God for Wine Blogging Wednesday. Well, it’s Thursday — but even a day late, at least something got me to blog again. Caught up in various inspections and preparations for the brick and mortar, I’ve really not been paying enough attention to what got me in this business in the first place.

So it was perfect timing yesterday when one of my reps brought me this “Homecoming” Zinfandel from Homefire Cellars. It represents a homecoming to blogging for me, as well as a return to Dry Creek Valley. There, Doug Nalle generously took a few hours of his day, a few years ago, to usher me around to several area wineries, primarily Zin producers. Soon thereafter, my blog and online wine store were born. Since then, I admit that Zinfandel hasn’t been my favorite grape variety. It’s fairly rare that I drink it, and I don’t stock too many.

But the Homefire Ranch “Homecoming” Zinfandel is really pleasing. It’s got classic Zin characteristics, with really juicy red fruit and some spicy peppery zest. It avoids going overboard in terms of heat or body, and I’d guess this is lightly oaked. There’s nothing out of balance about this wine at all, and it makes me think that I’ll have to give Zins, and Dry Creek, some more serious consideration in the near future. I may even put a case of this on my about to be stocked racks!

Thanks to Sonadora at Wannabewino for hosting edition #60 of WBW. See you back here soon, I hope!