Zinfandel

Zinfandel, also known as Zin, is a red-skinned wine grape popular in California for its intense fruitiness and lush texture. Typically, Zinfandel tastes of bramble and fresh or fermented red berries. Vintners use Zinfandel grapes to produce a wide range of wine styles including sweet White Zinfandels, light-bodied reds reminiscent of Beaujolais nouveau, full bodied dry reds, sweet late harvest dessert wines, and ports. Most serious wine critics consider White Zinfandel to be insipid and uninteresting, while many also consider the heavy styles to be too high in alcohol, making wines that are too "hot" and food unfriendly.

In the 1990s and 2000s, however, conscientious producers have created ageworthy Zinfandels of remarkable complexity and finesse, although always with great vigour and power.

Vintners have grown Zinfandel in California in quantity for over one hundred years. Many of the oldest wineries in the state grow Zinfandel and the vines are now treated almost like historic landmarks. At the start of prohibition Zinfandel was California's most popular and successful variety. During prohibition, limited home winemaking and the production of sacramental wine was allowed, and Zinfandel remained popular with Northern California's home wine makers. However, on the East Coast Zinfandel fell in popularity and was replaced by thicker-skinned varieties. Zinfandel's tight bunches left its thin skins susceptible to rot on the slow train rides to Eastern home wine makers. The creation of White Zinfandel in the 1970s further saved the vines by providing a larger market for the grape. In the 1990s the market for premium wine increased sufficiently that old vine Zinfandel became valuable on its own.

Wineries in the counties of Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino, San Joaquin, Contra Costa, Alameda, San Luis Obispo, San Joaquin, Amador, El Dorado, Lake, and Santa Clara (in the Santa Cruz Mountains), and in the Cucamonga region of Southern California all produce Zinfandels. Wineries particularly known for their Zinfandel include Ravenswood Winery, Ridge Vineyards, Rosenblum Cellars, and Sutter Home Winery, the last having developed the "White Zinfandel" that became such a popular seller.

In Italy, the Primitivo grape has been found to be genetically identical to Zinfandel. Primitivo and Zinfandel are thought to be two different clones, both originally from Croatia, where it is known as Crljenak Kaštelanski. The link between Zinfandel and Crljenak was discovered through the work of Carole Meredith, a UC Davis geneticist. The Italian wine can be marketed in the U.S. under either name but U.S. Zinfandel cannot be called Primitivo in Europe.

External links

• Zinfandel Advocates & Producers