The Zinfindel Trail

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.

De Loach Vineyards

I arrived at the tasting room of De Loach Vineyards somewhat jaded after a 11 hour flight from London followed by a 2 hour drive from San Francisco in the rush hour. The folks were very welcoming and after I had been given some Zinfandel to revive my spirits I was taken for a drive around the various De Loach vineyards by Laura Sarong their marketing manager.

The founder of De Loach Vineyards, Cecil De Loach, moved to San Francisco from Macon, Georgia where he spent most of his childhood, although he was born in Montgomery, Alabama. Following his graduation from San Francisco State University with an Honours degree in Physical Anthropology, Cecil did research in Urban Anthropology, before joining the San Francisco Fire Department. The De Loach family began to look for agricultural land in Sonoma county in 1969 and purchased the 24 acre Barbieri ranch for $40,000. The ranch had been planted with Zinfandel between 1905 and 1927 and the vines were still intact and productive. For the first vintage Cecil moved a trailer onto the ranch so that he could tend the vines – by agreement Louis Barbieri was still living in the ranch house so that he could teach the De Loach family how to grow grapes. In 1971 the family moved onto the ranch permanently and the next year they purchased another 28 acre parcel of land which was to become the site of their winery.

In the early days Cecil sold his grapes to the Sonoma County Co-operative Winery in Windsor for vinification. He was elected president of the co-op in 1973 and, as his interest in winemaking grew, he took courses in oenology and chemistry at UC Davis. By 1975 Cecil felt confident enough to begin making his own wine and his first Zinfandel was produced in a metal shed on a Santa Rosa industrial estate. Cecil sold his wines to his cronies at the fire department for $2 a bottle but found few takers at that price . He then sold commercially for around $4 a bottle until one of his neighbours politely informed him that he was undercutting their prices so he upped his price to $7 a bottle and quickly sold out. A valuable marketing lesson had been learned. The family moved the winery to the present location in Olivet Road in 1979 and in that year 9,000 cases of wine were made. The following year Cecil quit his day job with the fire department to devote his energies to the production of wine. Over the years the family has bought more vineyard holdings so that now it owns or leases over 500 acres of vineyards in Russian River Valley, of which 321 are adjacent to the winery. Since each ranch came with its own ranch house, the family now owns quite a few properties.

Zinfandel is produced from five separate vineyard ranches in the vicinity of the winery. Each ranch produces a distinctive wine which differs from each of the others although the soils are similar and they share the same microclimate. The differences may be due to the fact that over the years different varieties have been used as replacement vines, Gambogi is known to contain more Alicante for example. Although the vineyards are located in the cool growing region of Russian River Valley, the Zinfandels produced give no indication that ripeness is a problem. Winemaker Dan Cedarquist, who has worked at De Loach since 1993, uses the same technique for all his Zinfandels; fermentation at 85 degrees for seven to eight days followed by a period of settling in 3,000 gallon old oak tanks whilst the malolactic fermentation proceeds, usually until January or February. The wines are then matured in American oak barrels for nine months before bottling.

The original plot of land that Cecil De Loach bought in 1969, the Barbieri Ranch, comprises 22 acres of vines planted in 1905 by Italo Barbieri. When I first saw the vines as I drove past on the way to the winery I thought they were dwarf olive trees – the stems were so thick and gnarled. The vineyard was in poor shape when Cecil bought it and the rows of vines are very ragged, but the quality of the wine is superb. The wines from this vineyard are classic Zinfandel with blackberry fruit and peppery spice. The 10 acres that comprise the Gambogi Ranch were planted in 1909 by Annchise Gambogi; these wines have an intense spicy flavour with hints of plum, currant and anise. Papera Ranch is an 18 acre vineyard planted in 1934 by Charles Papera, its wines are characterised by a full spicy flavour with hints of cloves, figs, capsicum, bay and cinnamon on brambles and raspberries. The Pelletti Ranch Zinfandel is produced from vines planted in 1928 by Alcide Pelletti and typically shows flavours of raspberry, cherry, and blackberry with some spice on the finish. The oldest vineyard is the Saitone Ranch which was planted in 1895. Its wines tend to be high in alcohol, full bodied, with smokey earthy, black fruit on the palate and a long finish. Two other Zinfandels are made, an Estate blend from all five of the above ranches with around 3% of Petite Sirah from the Flagstaff vineyard, and a premium blend called O.F.S. which either stands for ‘our finest selection’ or ‘out fucking standing’, depending on who you ask. The O.F.S. is selected from the finest vineyard lots and is further selected by blending from different barrel lots. It is given a higher proportion of new oak than the single vineyard wines. The style is very rich with super-ripe fruit and an almost port-like nose.

The 1996 vintage saw the introduction of the De Loach ‘Platinum Blend’ Zinfandel (and other varietals). This is an export blend which has been introduced to avoid labelling restrictions. It is an EU requirement that wines being imported from the US should have a slip label which identifies the importer, and the US Surgeon General’s health warning must be covered. Producers complain about the hassle of opening cases of wine and sticking labels on each bottle, with an export-only label this is avoided. It also means that the wine can be vinified so that it comes out below the 15% alcohol level which excludes it from the European market. I can see how having several Zinfandels any or all of which may exceed 15% in a given year can cause problems for both suppliers and importers. You would not know which were going to be able to be shipped into which countries until the analysis had been done on the finished wine. However I do worry that the result is a ‘designer’ wine which will be blended to a consistent and predictable finish and I hope that it does not mean an end to the single vineyard selections in the UK market.

article by:Ian Hutton