ZINFANDEL

Californians are justly proud of their winemaking prowess with grapes such as cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay and pinot noir. Yet, for centuries before California even had its name, winemakers in Bordeaux and Burgundy had made very acceptable—often great—wines from these same grapes.

The wine grape that California might be prouder of is the grape that it coddled in its infancy and then brought into prominence, the zinfandel.

Even so, zinfandel’s history predates that of California. U.C. Davis Professor Emeritus Carole Meredith finally cleared up the mystery of Zin's origins in 2002 when, after a long search, she and her DNA profiling team found a match between California's Zin and an ancient grape that used to be widely grown in Dalmatia (now Croatia), Crljenak Kaštelanski.

Some years earlier, it was confirmed that Zin and Italy's Primitivo were the same grape, but since records showed that Zin was grown earlier in the U.S. than Primitivo was in Italy (1830 versus late 1800s), Zin had to have been imported to this country from somewhere other than Italy.

In the 1850s, like so many other residents of the East Coast, Crljenak Kastelanski relocated to California where it became known as “Zinfandel,” the origin of this name shrouded by time. It took to its new home because it enjoyed the heat and yielded rivers of juicy, fruity red wine that was popular with miners and other California settlers.

Vineyard & Winery
Zin is actually a tricky grape to grow, as producers will readily tell you, because of its unusually uneven ripening and thin-skinned berries. The uneven ripening leads to clusters containing both harsh, unripe green grapes and very ripe grapes. The thin skin causes the grapes that are ripe to turn to raisins if not picked quickly. To pick and sort only the ripe grapes, and to pick them at just the right time, is an expensive proposition, often requiring multiple passes through the vineyard. This means that most high-quality Zins tend to be on the pricey side, running at least $30 or more.

Another distinctive characteristic of the grape is its tendency to ripen at very high sugar levels. When grape sugar is fermented, it turns to alcohol. The alcohol levels resulting from Zin's high sugars used to kill off the fermenting strains of yeast by the time those yeasts had fermented the sugars down to around 14 percent alcohol, leaving a high degree of "residual sugar," or unfermented grape sugar. The result was wines that tasted quite sweet.

In recent years, however, producers and yeast manufacturers have managed to select out and grow large quantities of specialized yeasts that don't die out during fermentation when the alcohol level continues to rise. This has made it possible to ferment Zins with high grape sugar levels all the way dry, yielding heavy-bodied wines with previously unheard-of levels of alcohol for unfortified wines16 to 17 percent and higher.

As a Wine
The wine is best when made unadorned, although American oak, with its vanilla and spicy flavors, often suits it. (Zinfandel is so heady that the wine can trump French wood.) But, by and large, Zinfandel tastes best when it’s made in an American way: hands-off, rough-and-ready, straightforward.

When young (or, another way said, when it is at its prime), Zinfandel sports aromas and tastes of blackberries, cranberries, black cherries and—in especially riper versions—raisins, chocolate and dates. These can be accented with scents of black pepper, clove or dried rose petals.

Higher-alcohol Zins may give a sip of it some “heat” in the swallow. Its tannins can range from the sweet, puffy and mature, to those that pucker up the mouth so much that you cannot talk.

Around the World
California is Zinfandel’s true home—or at least its most renowned stage. After Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, it is the third most planted red grape in the state.

Like most grapes, the climate and soils where Zinfandel is grown have a major impact on its style. Cooler growing regions like the Russian River Valley, the Santa Cruz Mountains and Mendocino County tend to produce lower alcohol, more complex wines. Very warm regions like Amador County and Lodi tend to produce jammy, black-fruited wines. One of the most ideal growing regions in the State for balanced, rounded Zins is the Dry Creek Valley AVA in Sonoma County.

Though looked down upon by wine cognoscenti, “white” Zinfandel may have saved the variety in the 1980s. At the least, it shares the name of its full-on red sibling, must be made from the same vines, and is—whether wine cognoscenti like it or not—a delicious introductory wine for many a beginning wine drinker.

Zinfandel also grows in several other states of the Union, though with little of the same recognition as that from California.

Primitivo, planted almost exclusively in Italy’s southern region of Puglia, came upon recognition when scientists determined its familial links with Zinfandel. Prior to, say, 1995 when these findings became current, Primitivo served mostly as a wine blended into weaker, less substantial wines from Italy’s north.

Eats
Better-made, barely sweet white Zinfandels are fine aperitif wines, especially well-chilled. Matching foods to standard red Zinfandels depends on the wine’s heft or structure.

The beefier sorts, especially those with a good dollop of tannin, are great matches for grilled red meats—beef, lamb, venison, bison. If the meats are fatty, all the better (tannin and fat are wed in heaven). Similarly, cheeses that are high fat, especially aged drier cheeses such as Vella Monterey Jack or Parmigiano-Reggiano, go very well with these Zins.

Less tannic, fruitier Zinfandels can happily accompany other, lighter meats and fuller-fleshed fish, especially grilled versions. So, pair these wines with fowl, swordfish, tuna and the like, or with moderately fatty cheeses, either soft or firm.

If you want to slap an exclamation point on any protein that you pair with Zinfandel, grind peppercorns on it. You won’t believe how delicious a couple they make.