Murphy Goode's Liar's Dice Zinfandel is a good, reliable, good-value-for-money zin (I think we paid $15.99). Typically it has nice cherry fruit, raspberry jam, and currant (as noted in their notes). We've never visited, but they are in the northern bend of the Russian River, north of Alexander Valley Road in Sonoma County, north of Healdsburg. One of the most delightful places in the world, and a good place to grow zinfandel.
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate has this to say about the 2004:
This is a juicy, exuberantly-styled Zin from the reliable Murphy-Goode Winery. A very good value, the 2004 Zinfandel Liar’s Dice (16,000 cases produced) possesses a conservative (for currant day Zinfandels) alcohol percentage of 14.5. Its deep ruby color is followed by big, juicy, extroverted aromas of black cherries, earth, underbrush, pepper, and Provencal spices. It possesses loads of character, a full-bodied palate, terrific fruit purity, and a lovely, savory texture. Drink it over the next 2-4 years. Score: 89.
Our bottle had a deep purple-red color, and the nose had tannin, cinnamon, pepper, and hints of eucalyptus-y spice. The fruit note on the nose was more generic, and a little bit raisiny.
The first taste was typical zin -- big, fruity (as noted in the Parker review), and not very acidic. It was also quite tannic, but the type of tannin that would oxidize off over time. Where our experience starts to diverge from Parker's is that we found the fruit not to be particularly lush, but to be more resin-y.
It softened and the fruit developed as it opened and we drank more of it; in particular, the cherry fruit developed. It was still more resin-y than I would be led to believe from the Parker review. With food the cherry fruit also dominated.
All in all, we thought that we had liked Liar's Dice better in past vintages. In particular I prefer a more lush and less resin-y zinfandel style, so the persistent resin notes in this vintage didn't rock my world. But it's still a good wine and good value for money.
