Sally and I have a little code system when we go wine tasting. A check mark on our note sheet means it's good, a check + means we'd buy it if the price was right, a smiley face means we want to buy some, and P.F.G. means...
Well, use your imagination.
Benessere's 2009 Black Glass Zinfandel is a P.F.G. wine. It's jammy without being overpowering, very smooth on the palate, and a little pepper on the finish. The beauty of a great wine like this is it can goes well with a wide variety of food or is perfectly fine all by itself.
We enjoyed a bottle at Del Mar's Poseidon restaurant last Saturday. Our patio table overlooked the beach, giving us views of the late afternoon surf and sand activities that gradually gave way to a spectacular sunset. Zinfandel is universal, but the winemaker's notes suggested steak, so that's what we did.
We first discovered Benessere when my friend Pat gave me a bottle of their 2008 Holystone-Collins Zinfandel. We profiled that wine in a post confirming that shared bottles are the best bottles.
This initial impression of Benessere was so good that we added them to the itinerary on our trip to Napa last April. Wow. Wow. Wow. Their wine is good.
The crazy good part about this is the Black Glass Zinfandel wasn't even our favorite wine among the ones we tasted at Benessere. The 2010 Holystone-Collins Zinfandel absolutely blew us away. We just might have to invent a new ultimate designation of wine greatness if the Holystone-Collins really does top the P.F.G. Black Glass when we uncork a bottle and pair it with a meal.