Zinfandel, known best for its long, and sometimes unfortunate, California history is a favorite of the team at California Wine Magazine. After all, this is the grape of choice of our own Zin Avenger and is central to his adventures in California wine history.  But our own preferences aside, this is a wonderful grape that can be made into a variety of styles, including a light blush (White Zinfandel), a light to medium table wine, a robust red wine and a port style or late harvest dessert version. 

Zinfandel is considered by many to be a true California grape, however it is a member of the European species; Vitis Vinifera, with its roots are truly in Croatia.  It is now known after much debate, and finally the completion of extensive DNA research, that Zinfandel originated in Croatia and is the same grape as Primitive and Crljenak Kastelanski.  The grape came to the United States in the 1820s, making its first appearance in California in the 1850s as a replacement for the Mission grape.  It was an instant hit with the European immigrants, especially those from Italy, Portugal and the Balkans who could make wines similar to those they left behind in the Old Country. 

The phylloxera outbreak of the l890s destroyed most of the California Zinfandel vines, but some did survive in a few isolated vineyards in wine regions like Amador, Napa, Sonoma, and Contra Costa Counties as well as the Lodi and Cucamonga growing regions.  These vines that have survived are extremely prized for their ability produce wines with incredibly intense flavors and colors.  The vines were replanted and Zinfandel was one of the grapes that helped the farmers of California survive Prohibition being a favorite of home winemakers. 

After Prohibition Zinfandel stayed popular as a table wine and re-emerged as a fine wine in the late 1960s.  In the 1970s Sutter Home in Napa created a white wine made from Zinfandel grapes that was immensely popular for its light, slightly sweet style.  It has been a rocky ride since then as winemaking styles and cultural wine drinking preferences have changed.  But today Zinfandel is again being made into a diverse group of fine wines throughout California and many other parts of the world. 

Cultivation: Zinfandel vines are vigorous and often dry farmed to keep its juice from becoming too watery and thus promote more intense flavors and colors in the resulting wine.  The large clusters of grapes are known for ripening unevenly so that there can be green, red and raisined, or overripe fruit in the same bunch.  It is this ripening characteristic that makes the taste of Zinfandel so unique by creating wines with the ability to demonstrate a wide range of fruit flavors in each glass.  These grapes like warm, but not too hot growing conditions, needing a long hang time to allow the balance of acid, tannin and sugar to develop fully.  The ability of the vines to be head pruned and require no form of support to grow meant Zinfandel was particularly popular during the Gold Rush because of the shortage of wood and wire.  The grape can be, and is, cultivated in a wide range of soils which have distinct impacts to the flavor qualities of the wines produced that demonstrate a wonderful taste of the place the grapes were grown.

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