The Zinfindel Trail – part 1

My first encounter with Zinfandel was back in the early 1980s, on holiday in Hawaii. I chose the wine from the restaurant wine list because the name was so unusual, I didn’t know whether Zinfandel referred to the grape, the name of the wine or the grower. Since this was early in the 1980s what came to the table was a salmon pink off-dry wine which was an ideal accompaniment to the seafood on offer. And at the risk of putting off readers so soon in the story, I enjoyed this wine and thought no more about it.


The next time I encountered Zinfandel was not auspicious. I found the bottle lurking on the shelves of a local wine shop in Shepherds Bush, it was wedged in between that stores more popular lines of ‘Thunderbird’ and ‘Night Train’. It was a 1980 from Gallo and this time it was deep red and, as the back label informed me, had spent 30 months in oak barrels. What the ‘blush’ had done for warm tropical evenings in Hawaii, that robust red did for a cold autumnal night in West London.

It was several years later when I read an article by John Trigwell in Wine magazine on the joys of this wine. He was thinking of starting up a UK version of ZAP (Zinfandel Advocates producers – a US organisation dedicated to Zinfandel). I contacted him immediately and was soon attending the tastings which he organised in Richmond, Surrey. My horizons expanded very quickly and I realised that there was a whole world out there of which I had hitherto been unaware. I had started on my quest to seek out new Zins – I was hooked.

I suppose one of the reasons I got hooked on Zinfandel was that it was unconventional and a bit of a curiosity. Most people in England had never heard of it at the time and there was a feeling of being part of a select group of devotees. I discovered that Zinfandel had many other qualities that made it intriguing. It has a mysterious past and a controversial lineage, which is only becoming clearer with the advent of DNA finger printing. Its vines are some of the oldest anywhere in the world, but still produce crops of such potential size that the vines must be rigorously pruned to avoid over production.

In the US Zinfandel now enjoys a cult status, partly out of nationalistic pride and partly out of support for its position as an underdog of wines – it is not considered a ‘noble’ variety and has been overlooked in the great rush to plant Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon. But what other variety can express itself with such a range of styles, from a light almost Beaujolais style to a profound port-like blockbuster. It is truly a wine for all seasons and for all occasions. Like its more illustrious European cousins it can express terroir – just compare a Dry Creek Zinfandel with one from Russian River just a few miles south, and then try an example from Howell Mountain, very different styles but with a core similarity.

What I learned in my travels around California’s Wine Country is that Zinfandel producers are as individualistic as the wine itself, and just as approachable. Each winemaker that I had contacted was willing to share his or her experience with me. Although opinions on what constituted a true Zinfandel differed widely’ and although each winemaker was convinced that their technique was the correct one, they had nothing but mutual respect for each other and an acceptance that everyone was entitled to their own opinions.

I soon realised that my schedule, set on the basis of an old not-to-scale visitors map of the Russian River Wine Road and drawn up 6,000 miles away in England, was not going to hold together. Not only were the visits taking longer as winemakers warmed to their theme and more and more samples were produced for tasting, but the distances around the Sonoma valleys were far greater than I’d imagined. I consequentially spent much of my time phoning ahead to explain that I’d be late. Fortunately this seemed to be expected of English wine writers and there was always someone there to meet me. This article and the ones that follow are based on my interviews with winemakers.

Written by Ian Hutton

continue to The Zinfindel Trail – part 2