It's the hottest ticket in town. And a tasting such as this allows you to get a handle on the quality of both available vintages, and sometimes older vintages and unreleased vintages. A few 1996s were there, and generally were decent but hardly noteworthy. The bad news about ZAP is, there are 5,000 of your closest and dearest friends with whom you can rub elbows. Here's a ricochet rundown of some of the more interesting zinfandels at this year's ninth annual ZAP tasting.
Prices are approximate retail.
There was a lot of buzz about this new winery at ZAP, and superficially it was easy to see why. Eat a hearty lunch and drink plenty of water before you go. And because the crowds are thick, it's easier to spit into your cup, which you can empty periodically into the large buckets on the tables. See you there next year. Tom was retired from the Times but still retained his column.