Red Zinfandel California Wine Primitivo Italian Wine. Try Both These Identical Wine Vino Cousins

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Until Cabernet Sauvignon superseded it in 1998, Zinfandel was the most widely planted red grape in California. In fact, the oldest Zinfandel vines in the world are planted in California. Zinfandel producers are creating their own paradigm and making their own history as they go. In California alone, Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino, Lake, Central Valley, Central Coast, the San Francisco Bay Area, Sierra Foothills and Southern California are all Zinfandel wine growing regions. The very best grapes are made into a jammy, mouthwatering, big-fruited dry red wine. Some of the most prized vineyards in California are those planted with old Zinfandel vines, defined generally as vineyards producing wine continually for at least fifty years and producing less than three tons of grapes per acre.

Though called America's grape, tests reveal Zinfandel is of European descent with the same DNA as the Italian grape Primitivo, although, oddly enough, history shows "Zin" arrived in California before Primitivo did in Italy. One well-documented route of Zinfandel to California indicates that the grape came from Austria between 1822 and 1829 when a nursery owner in Long Island, New York imported several vines from Vienna. It is possible that Austria obtained the vines from its rule over Croatia which was still in place when Zinfandel appeared in the United States.

Zinfandel's grape clusters have a unique aspect that contributes to its character. The berries within each cluster do not ripen evely, which produces unique flavor dynamics. Thus, there is bright acidity from slightly underripe grapes, perfect fruit flavors from the ripe berries and concentration and depth from the slightly withered or overripe ones. While this helps to account for the best Zinfandels' excellent balance, this aspect also makes the choice of when to pick Zinfandel grapes a difficult one. Also characteristic of a zinfandel vineyard is the use of "head pruning," an old European style of pruning that trains the vines in the shape of a goblet. Head pruning spreads the fruit evenly along the vine and allows light penetration to all parts of each grape cluster. Also, Zinfandel's popularity among those "'49ers," looking for a substantial beverage helped establish a baseline for the wine's success.

Zinfandel has its own unique aroma and flavor profile and to raise awareness of the wine's nose and palate, the Zinfandel Advocates and Producers Group (ZAP) commissioned in 1993 UC Davis Professor Ann Noble to create a Zinfandel "Aroma Wheel." The words are arranged in nine slices of a pie-shaped diagram, radiating out from the most general in the center to the most specific. The general headings are floral, nutty, chemical, woody, spicy, vegetative, earth, fruity and carmelized. The aromas can come from the grapes themselves---how they're grown, where they're grown, the clone, the pruning, vineyards (soil, exposure, weather) and ripeness. The aromas also come from the winemaking: a strawberry note may come from whole grape clusters having been added to the must, oak aging might produce aromas of vanilla, toast or spice, etc.

Zinfandel and Primitivo are grown elsewhere around the world in Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina, France, Italy and Croatia. In fact, the California regions mentioned earlier each contribute Zins of different styles. We'll discuss four of them here below:

Medocino and Lake Counties may be the northernmost California Zin regions but they are surprisingly warm due to mountains that shelter the interior valleys from cool sea breezes. The Zins from here are richly coloured with raspberry-cherry character and a juicy feel in the mouth. Notes in the bouquet include rose petal, vanilla, forest floor, mulled spice and chocolate.

The Sierra Foothills is home to some of the earliest planted Zinfandel vineyards dating back to as early as 1852. Its decomposed granite soils are unique in all the world and at 1200 to 1500 feet, its vineyards have the highest elevation among California Zin vines. The wines from here are deeply colored, bright fruit forward, ripe black raspberry and a strong black cherry, verging on cola, character. Overall the wines are intense in color, aroma, tannins and flavor.

Sonoma County Zins are often considered "Classic Zinfandel" in its Northern areas with a nose of full, intense blackberry fruit aromas that mingle with spicy black pepper, anise and allspice with a cherry and briar character. The extended growing season of the Russian River Valley sub-appellation intensifies the flavors of the fruit producing very lush, dark plum and boysenberry qualities. Zin from Sonoma's Dry Creek American Viticultural Area (AVA) has a distinct core of black cherry and vanilla flavor and aroma. The Alexander Valley AVA's Zinfandel is described as "supple" with plump blackberry and black cherry flavors while Sonoma Valley wines are quite lush with black pepper and spice featured. Finally, the coolest areas of southern Sonoma show brighter, rounder berry fruit and intensely spicy flavor.

The Central Coast region includes Zinfandel growing areas of Monterey County, San Luis Obispo County (including Paso Robles), Edna Valley and Santa Barbara. The wines have rich, fruity character from big, late harvest style wine to more fruit forward, lighter claret styles with notes of spice, herbs and cherries. These are rich wines with intense blackberry and pepper and an earthy quality of fragrant forest floor. Wild berries, smoke and toast are often aromas associated with Zinfandel from here.

No discussion of Zinfandel would be complete without a mention of food pairings as it is certainly one of the most food-friendly wines. Any list of food for having with Zinfandel wines would have to include: beef (from hamburgers to Kobe beef, cheeses (cheddar, Manchego, Parmigiano, Swiss, gouda, among others), game, lamb, pasta and pizza, pork, poultry, rice-based dishes, hearty soups, veal, bean based and roasted or grilled mushroom dishes. Perhaps one reason it is called America's wine is because it goes so well with so much of America's foods but also try the Italian Primitivo –Compare and Enjoy.

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