The Wine's the Thing
Mitch Kornfeld
1/20

Dad's Cardinal Zins And Other Clichés


Looking for a good tasty inexpensive bottle of red wine? Look no further than a bottle of Zinfandel. While Zinfandel can come from some far-flung places almost all of it comes from California and it can be called a California (and American) wine. There have been many good things that came out of California such as Hollywood movies, San Francisco Bay Area music, and most of the insides of the device(s) you are using to read this, but for my money good Zinfandel is as enduring as any of them.

For all its identification with California, Zinfandel's origins used to be considered quite mysterious. For a long time there was only speculation, then in the 1970's it was discovered that Zinfandel was identical to a southern Italian variety called Primativo. Everyone thought that Zinfandel was Primativo and the word even started showing up on California labels. The only trouble was that further research showed that Primativo first showed up in Italy during the 1890's but Zinfandel had been in California years earlier. The latest research shows that Zinfandel is the same as an old Croatian variety called Plavac Mali. Just how it came to be called Zinfandel has been lost in the mists of time.

Now you may be thinking you've heard of Cabernet Sauvignon from Bordeaux, and Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from Burgundy, but how is it you've never heard of an Old World counterpart to Zinfandel and you've certainly never heard of Plavac Mali from the former Yugoslavia. First, keep in mind that when it comes to wine there is an inverse proportion between quantity and quality. (If you read last week's column the way you were supposed to you would know that.). Next bear in mind that wine varieties can be classified by the quantity of grapes they naturally bear. They are usually classified as either being shy bearing or heavy bearing. The shy bearers are known as "noble varieties," and the heavy bearers are known as "production varieties."

You've probably heard of the noble varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon and the two Burgundy varieties mentioned earlier, but maybe not the production varieties, as they don't get as much press. Zinfandel is a production variety. It has really big clusters and if left alone it will produce a lot of them. If Zin vines are not pruned back to decrease quantity they will not produce a high quality wine. You never heard of Croatian Plavac Mali because not enough quantity was of high quality, and what high quality wine there was, was consumed locally.

To make high quality Zinfandel in California you have to use grapes from low yielding vineyards. You could just prune back the vines but there are a couple of other ways that give lower yields, and they are both natural. One way is to use grapes grown on hillsides. When it rains on a hillside the water drains off much more quickly than it does on flat land and the vines absorb less water. The result is smaller "unbloated" grapes. Smaller grapes have a higher ratio of skins to juice than larger grapes, and most of the flavor (and color) in wine comes from the grape skins.

The other way to get low yields is from old vines. As grapevines pass about 30 or 40 years of age they begin to decline in vigor and yield. Zinfandel vines are the longevity champions, and pre-Prohibition vineyards in California are not uncommon. When wineries use grapes from these vineyards they will usually put the words "Old Vines" on the label. The winner of the oldest vineyard title goes to the Renwood Winery of Amador County (in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains) for their Grand Pere Vineyard Zinfandel. The vines are over 130 years old.

We're talking about a vineyard planted during the administration of the eighteenth President of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant! I haven't tried the Grand Pere Zinfandel myself but it is highly rated and you can find it. I saw it in Union Square Wines and Spirits on Martin Luther King Day, and I've seen it at Garnet too. I think it's about $34 or $35. I have to try one before the vines give up the ghost.

There's a winery in Sonoma named Kunde that makes a wine called Century Vines Zinfandel. The vineyard was planted in 1882. When I was there in 1999 they told me that the yield was three quarters of a ton per acre and that they were lucky to get any grapes at all. Irrigated Zinfandel vines in the sunny Central Valley of California can give eight to ten tons of grapes per acre. Considering everything I was happy to pay $27 for a bottle of the 1997 Century Vines (which is resting comfortably in my storage facility).

Sometimes the three ways of getting lower yields from Zinfandel (pruning, using hillside vineyards, and using old vines) are all used by a winegrower or a winery. Sometimes a combination occurs naturally as with an old hillside vineyard. There's a winery in Sonoma (many of the top Zinfandel producers are in Sonoma) called Martinelli that produces a Zin from a vineyard called Jackass Hill. They say the vineyard got its name because it is so steep that it can only be farmed with a jackass. It's reputed to be the steepest vineyard in California. It just also happens that the vineyard was planted in 1905. I had some of the Zin from this vineyard at Mesa Grill a couple of years back and it was a blockbuster. As fabulous concentration as you would expect and it was delicious too. Also it was great with the food. I think they got $50 a bottle for it, which is not bad at all.

This would be a good time to describe what Zinfandel tastes like. Before 1980 or so the descriptors you always saw were "briary" and "brambly." I think it became an Emperor's new clothes type of situation where no one knew what they meant so the words fell by the wayside. (My old friend Rev. Henriques said, "tasted any brambles lately?") These days the word you see all the time is "berries," unidentified berries, as in "ripe berry fruit." "Cherry-berry" comes up a bit too, and raspberries make it in sometimes though not as often as cherries. "Ripe cherries, berries, and raspberry fruit," is about the textbook definition these days. Just one time I'd like to see someone say something like this: "Zinfandel is rather distinctive and tastes like Zinfandel. After a couple of good bottles you'll be able to recognize it right away, and you can find good examples for as little as ten dollars." Alas, this you are never going to see.

Another word that shows up in describing Zin is "Peppery," as in black pepper, not green or red. Old vines have roots that can go down a long way, searching for water it is said. In porous soil they can go down a couple hundred feet. When they do something like that they pick up traces of minerals that you can taste in the wine (fascinating beverage, isn't it?). In Zinfandel, as well as Syrah and Petite Sirah, the minerals show up as pepperiness or spiciness. Old vine Zinfandel usually has this added dimension of pepperiness or spiciness that adds complexity and interest to the wine. This spiciness and mineral quality is characteristic of old vines in other varieties too.

One mechanism that wine writers like to use to describe wines is a musical analogy. The might say something such as this white wine is one-note, or that red wine strikes a chord, or a First Growth Bordeaux is a whole orchestra, and Cabernet Sauvignon is like Beethoven where Pinot Noir is more like Mozart. You get the idea. To me a single vineyard old vine Zinfandel from a good year tastes like the finale of the 1812 Overture with the cannons going off. I'm talking big wines with amazing concentration that attack and surround your tongue with concentrated flavor. Good ones are truly an experience and are not that expensive as these things go.

The wines I have mentioned and will mention top out at about $35. Top California Cabernet Sauvignons go for $75, $100, and $125 these days, so $30 or $35 for the real flavor explosion experience you get from a top Zinfandel isn't bad at all.

In looking for top Zin producers start by remembering the letter 'R." Look for "the three R's," Ridge, Ravenswood, and Rosenblum. Ridge stared in the 1960's and was the pioneer in producing single vineyard Zins and putting out detailed informative back labels. They are still doing it. Look for Zins labeled "Geyserville, Lytton Springs, Dusi Ranch, and Pagani Ranch." (Old man Pagani just passed away at 95 by the way. Red wine in moderation is good for you.) These Ridge's sell in the $25 to $30 range and they are all excellent.

Ravenswood is one of my favorite wineries. They specialize in big reds and so do I. Most of their production is red, and most of that is Zinfandel. They produce three lines of Zins. The first is called "Vintner's Blend," and it lists for $10. This is an excellent choice for finding out what a real red Zin tastes like at a reasonable price. The second line could be called "the county series." There's a Napa, Sonoma, Amador, Mendocino, and a Lodi. Lodi is an area not a county, and it is the Lodi of "stuck in Lodi again," fame, not the one in New Jersey. This series runs from $14 to $18 and you can't go wrong with any of them. (I brought a 1998 Amador to a Christmas dinner and it was simply delicious.) The third series is comprised of their single vineyard wines. If you are lucky enough to find one they include: Monte Rosso, Cooke, Dickerson, Teldeshi, Kunde, and the Old Hill/Wood/Belloni. They are in limited supply and in great demand so if you see one, have an inkling you want to try one, and can afford it, you should buy one. They're about $34 these days.

There's another way to get Ravenswood wines and that's by having them shipped from the winery. The problem with trying that is it's illegal to ship wines from California to about 20 different states and New York is one of them. We have laws left over from Prohibition, as well as some entrenched interests that get in the way. I'll devote some space to this in the future.

Unfortunately there's plenty of time for it as it will probably be at least four years before there's a chance of getting the federal laws changed. If you happen to live in a state where shipping is legal (called a reciprocal state), you can go to the Ravenswood website and find out how to get on their mailing list. Once on the list you can enter a lottery to be able to buy the single vineyard wines. This is much better and much more democratic than some wineries where there's a waiting list and you practically have to wait for someone to die just to get on the mailing list.

I'm usually vehement about preferring substance over style, but I really like Ravenswood's style. Of course the last thing they would ever be accused of is having wines that lacked substance, after all, their motto is "No Wimpy Wines." Their newsletter is a lot of fun, and they don't take themselves too seriously. You can reach them at 1-800-NO-WIMPY.

Rosenblum operates out of a converted warehouse in the East Bay area in Alameda County, not exactly a Mecca for wine pilgrims, and it probably keeps them from being really well known. The wines have always been highly rated and speak for themselves. Their entry level wine is called "Vintner's Cuvée" (followed by a Roman numeral), and it's in the same class as the Ravenswood Vintner's Blend. It might still be under $10 and it will give wonderful service in introducing someone to the glories of real red wine.

Rosenblum makes a regular and an old vine Zinfandel as well as single vineyard wines. Look for these vineyard names on the labels: Sauret, Hendry, Brandlin, Marston, and Samsal-Maggie's Vineyard. They're in the mid to high $20's and they tend to go fast.

Two good Old Vines Zins with pretty good distribution that you have a good chance of finding are from Dry Creek Vineyards and St. Francis. If you're in California wine country and you might want to actually see some of these old vines pay a visit to DeLoach Vineyards. It's a fine winery run by nice folks and it's headed, and was founded by, a retired San Francisco firefighter. Just follow the directions found in the ubiquitous wine country guides (available at any winery among other places). You'll be traveling due west from Santa Rosa, the county seat of Sonoma County (where if you look really closely you can see where Hitchcock shot Shadow of a Doubt). On the way out to DeLoach you'll see these two-foot high scrawny bushes that make you wonder how they put out a grape crop at all. When you get to the winery you'll find out you were looking at Zinfandel vineyards planted when Teddy Roosevelt was President, the Cubs were contenders, and the only people who shared the sky with the birds were named Orville and Wilbur. Then, if you're lucky and they're not sold out, you can buy a bottle of wine made from those very same vines.

There are many other good producers of Zinfandel in California. Sticking with the "R's" look for Rafanelli, Rombauer, (Renwood of course) and Rabbit Ridge. (Rabbit Ridge is turning out particularly interesting reds these days.) For value look for the entry level wines from Cline, Seghesio, and Fetzer (the Barrel Select). They all also make Reserves. Other good producers include Alderbrook, Coturri, Elyse, Franciscan, Nalle, and Quivara.

Although Zinfandels can age and Robert Parker said they're "made somewhat in the image of Cabernet Sauvignon," they can't really do great things with age the way Cabernet Sauvignon does. Aged Zins have beautiful noses of perfumed fruit but the wines themselves just don't develop the complexity of a Cabernet Sauvignon (then again what does?). That's why even the best Zins don't get scored above 95 points by the raters while Cabs and Cab based wines can get to 99 and 100. Remember that Zin is a production grape and is just not inherently as good as the noble Cabernet, but for a production grape it sure is an overachiever.

Zinfandels from sunny California can be very high in alcohol. 14% is not unusual and 15% is certainly not unheard of. When the wines are young and packed with flavor you don't notice high alcohol on your palate. As a high alcohol Zin ages and the fruit and the tannins fade the wine gets out of balance and the alcohol feels hot in the mouth. For this reason many people recommend drinking them young. My rule of thumb (which I've been known to violate) is to drink the high alcohol versions relatively young, at about three to five years old, when they still display all of their power and glory, and to age the lower alcohol versions (which for Zin means 13 something percent) for five years or more, and enjoy them when they're polished and gleaming.

As for current vintages the '97's were and are great, but they are rapidly disappearing from the shelves. '98 had the misfortune to follow '97 and is a good rather than great year. The wines are already drinking well, which is a sign that they are not agers. You aren't going to be putting away cases of them, but for pulling a nice bottle off of the shelf for current enjoyment they are just fine. '99 is looking to be very good but not as good as '97.

Zinfandel is good for all of your red wine needs but I find them to be best with spicy foods that have heat from chili peppers in them. Big wines for big foods. A big Zin with good chili infused food will set off fireworks in your mouth. You'll find yourself doing a Ralph Kramden WOOOOWWWWWWWW! Do yourself a favor and find a real Zin as soon as possible.

Lastly I think I promised another cliché (or two). Try this one from the eminent wordsmith Rich Lederer: "Cleave gramineous matter while the celestial orb is refulgent."

© Mitch Kornfeld 2001 All rights reserved


Previously by Mitch Kornfeld...

Some Basics for a Winter's Eve (01/12/01)

And if They're Spanish That's Fine (01/05/01)

Hello Carbon Dioxide (12/29/00)

Wines for Christmas (12/22/00)

Nouveau Beaujolais, Etc. (11/24/00)

Going to a Tasting 101 (12/01/00)