Wine & Spirits' The Year's Best Syrah and Zin - The Organics Among Them

The February 2013 issue of Wine & Spirits arrived in my mailbox with their top picks for U.S. Syrah and Zin this year...and the usual organically grown powerhouse wineries made the lists.

Storybook Winery predictably placed second (with 94 points) on the Syrah list for its 2009 Napa Valley Estate Reserve ($65).

Grgich Hills' 2009 Napa Valley Estate Grown Zinfandel (biodynamic) ($35) rated 92 points, the same as Storybook's $48 Napa Valley Eastern Exposures Zinfandel.

Frog's Leap's 2010 Napa Valley Zin rated a Best Buy at $27. (Their estate wine is organically grown but the winery says they use grapes from other growers that are organic but not certified, so they can't label it organic).

Storybook Mountain, the only winery with three Zins on the list, also rated 91 points for its 2010 Napa Valley Mayacamas Ridge Zin ($36).

(On the Syrah list, Bob Lindquist of Qupe, a legend for Syrah, had three top wines, but none of them were from his organically certified vineyards.)