I’m going to build on last month’s WineLines, “Wine in America” and give my take on the question “What’s America’s special wine grape?”
IMHO, it’s Zinfandel, specifically red Zinfandel.
Many grapes are grown and vinified the whole world over: Cab Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, to mention just a few, but there’s one that’s (almost) unique to America. I’m not going to include our native grapes in this, such as Muscadine, Scuppernong, Concord and Niagara – the less said about them, the better.
It’s known that Zin’s not native to North America. Like so many of our wine grapes, it was imported from Europe, in this case from Croatia via Italy and Austria. In Croatia, it’s known as Tribidrag or Kastelanski, and has some close relatives. In Italy it’s known as Primitivo. It appears to have been grown in the U.S. Northeast 200 years ago, and found its way to California, where it found a home, around the time of the Gold Rush.
The vines flourished in coastal California close to San Francisco Bay. There are plantings in Contra Costa County thought to be more than 100 years old, and in the Sierra Foothills, Gold Rush country, where there are documented plantings from 1858. It takes careful vineyard management to get good wine from the vines, left to themselves, they run riot, crop heavily and can survive both drought and heat. But with hard pruning, the crop can be controlled and worthy wines made.
Maybe the greatest setback that Zinfandel suffered was the “White Zinfandel” craze from the 1970s; someone got rich but the reputation of Zinfandel suffered greatly. It was not until the efforts of California growers such as Ravenswood, Ridge Vineyards and Turley bore fruit (pun intended) that red Zinfandel came into its own. It makes a concentrated wine with lots of ripe fruit flavors, sometimes described as “brambly.” It is also notable for its chameleon-like quality of reflecting the terroir (particularly soil) in which it’s grown. This writer has experienced a Zin that was almost pure black pepper flavor.
Zin is best drunk relatively young since the tannins are low, though it can be aged in oak barrels to raise the tannin levels. It may have a high alcohol content, which is not necessarily a good trait. It can be made into excellent “port,” fortified with brandy, and pairs perfectly with BBQ, spicy food, and pizza.
No other country grows significant quantities of Zin. Dry Creek, Lodi, Paso Robles and the Sierra Foothills are all American Viticultural Areas with significant plantings and excellent producers. Look for wines that have no more than 13-14% alcohol by volume; more than that and the alcohol gets in the way of the wine.
Cheers!
-Submitted by Guy Gimson
(Image credit: Pixabay.com)