2006 Syrah Papa's Block

While the collection of wines that Mike Officer showed me this year was making a delightful impression on my palate, his woeful account of ancient-vine zinfandel vineyards being torn out to make way for more pinot noir lent a bleak mood to the affair.Tasting the last vintage of zins from the Montafi Ranch (formerly known as the Tom Feeney Ranch) and Pietro's Ranch and eulogizing other sites with one foot in the grave reminded was like attending the wake of an old friend. It should be a crime, Officer told me, to rip up living history to make way for the flavor of the month, or even decade, but you can't fight huge investment funds, even if they are based in California and run by natives.