How zinfandel helped secure California’s place in the wine world and brought rose to the masses
- Believed to be an indigenous American grape, it was later discovered to be part of a European grape species
- A versatile grape, zinfandel can be made into many styles of wine: jammy, blackberry- and plummy fruit-packed
Zinfandel has contributed much to California’s place in the wine world. The grape is part of the American state’s history, dating back to the gold rush in the late 1840s. It is tricky to determine exactly when a vine first arrived, but at the Original Grandpère Vineyard, in the Shenandoah Valley, Amador county, records from 1866 document that zinfandel vines had been planted there.
For many years, zinfandel was thought to be an indigenous American grape, but with the advent of DNA testing in the 1990s, it was determined to be part of the European family of grape species Vitis vinifera.
In the 1820s, zinfandel cuttings were brought to the United States from Austriaby a George Gibbs, who owned a plant nursery in New York. By the 1840s, “zinfendal” (as it was spelled then) was being grown in hothouses in the northeastern US. During this period, the grape made its way to California with the help of another nursery owner, Frederick Macondray.
The years of the gold rush found timber and wire (needed in trellising vines) in short supply, and zinfandel became popular because it did not require trellising.
Zinfandel was California’s most widely planted red wine grape until 1998, when it was surpassed by cabernet sauvignon.
A versatile grape, zinfandel can be made into many styles of wine: jammy, blackberry- and plummy fruit-packed and a bit on the chewy side with intense tannins, giving a huge mouthful of sensations and tastes. It can make a fabulous after-dinner port-like bouschet wine that is gregariously sweet, with peppery, juicy black fruits.
So-called white zinfandel is actually a rosé. This wine has just enough contact with the skins to give it a pale-pink hue. It quickly became a bestseller and white zinfandel still vastly outsells red zinfandel. White zinfandel is considered to be a beginner’s zin because it is mass-produced, reasonably priced and slightly sweet.
In California, there is no legal definition for “old vine” wines, but zinfandel producers that put this designation on their labels have been growing grapes for at least 40 years. These vines are distinctive in appearance with gnarled, twisted trunks. Old vines make memorable wines, with mouthfuls of fleshy, voluptuous black fruits bursting with flavour.
The best zinfandels are mouth-wateringly delicious with lush, big, red and black fruits, slightly jammy on the nose but dry on the palate. Here are a few of my favourites.
Gnarly Head is an affordable treat that has been produced since 2004, using some of the oldest vineyards in California.
Seghesio Family Vineyards has been making zinfandel since 1895 in Sonoma county’s Alexander Valley. Founder Edoardo Seghesio and his wife, Angela, tended their vineyards through the prohibition era and they were one of the few to survive by selling their juice with strict instructions to buyers not to add yeast. It was not until the early 1980s that the fourth generation began to make wines under the family name.
At the Hartford Family Winery, in the Russian River Valley, Don and Jennifer Hartford make specialised wines from small, low-yielding vineyards. Some of their wines total as few as 100 cases a year and are highly sought after. Their old vine zinfandels are from vineyards that are 80 to 100 years old. One would think that a wine made from such old vines would be extremely concentrated but theirs are delicate – intense in aromas and ripeness of fruits, but not heavy in terms of alcohol.
Ridge Vineyards, to me, is the pinnacle of what an old vine zinfandel should be. The winery began in 1885, when Osea Perrone bought about 70 hectares at the top of Monte Bello Ridge. He planted vineyards after terracing the land into slopes and built a three-level cellar in the mountainside, which is still in use.
