2005 Dry Creek Vineyard Old Vine Zinfandel, Dry Creek Valley, Calif.

• $28

KULERS UNCORKED GIL KULERS Gil Kulers is a certified wine educator with the Society of Wine Educators and teaches in-home wine classes. You can reach him at gil.kulers @winekulers.com or by clicking on his photo above. Related: • More on food and drink 2006 Louis Jadot Beaujolais-Villages  Why Australians shake the wine: It's a gas  2005 Greg Norman California Estates Petite Sirah  Good wine is more than alcohol percentage  2006 Kendall-Jackson Vineyards and Winery Grand Reserve Chardonnay

• Two thumbs up

• Aromas of violets and red fruit are followed by flavors of dry cherry, fresh-picked raspberries, coffee and a touch of mintiness at the end. A big, powerful wine, but not out of touch with its winelike nature.

The Wine Curmudgeon was recently griping to a fellow wine writer about the ever-elevating levels of alcohol in wine these days. The over-

abundance of alcohol smothers the true fruity nature of the grape variety, and high-alcohol wines simply have no rightful place at the dinner table, as they overshadow all but the most powerful of food items.

Which is why the Wine Curmudgeon has been neglecting the red zinfindels on his wall of wine lately. Many zins suffer from "over-alcoholization," but that's a big blanket to throw on an entire category of wine. So he weeded through all the bottles with 15 and 16 percent alcohol (and one whopper at 16.8 percent!) and there at the bottom of the bin was a bottle of Dry Creek Vineyard Old Vine Zin.

It still tasted like zinfandel with flavors of dry cherries and raspberries with a minty quality, but it only contained 14.5 percent alcohol. It didn't interfere with the pork loin and mashed potatoes it was served with. And Mr. and Mrs. Wine Curmudgeon did not feel the need to chase their wine with a glass of beer to stop the alcoholic burn in their mouths. So let those bruisers and ruffians out there enjoy alcoholic elixirs they call wine. With friends like Dry Creek, Calistoga Cellars and St. Francis around, more temperate types will always have something to enjoy with our dinners.