Software Vault: The Gold Collection/Software Vault - The Gold Collection (American Databankers) (1993).ISO/cdr11/wineinfo.zip/ZIN.RG

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THE WINE TASTER
By Robin Garr
The Courier-Journal, July 27, 1988
     Let's get one thing straight right here at the beginning: The Zinfandel
grape is red, and so, at best, is the wine it makes.
     White Zinfandel may be pretty, cold and sweet, but it's a pale replica
of the gutsy, full-flavored red wine that this all-American grape can
produce.
     The origin of Zinfandel is somewhat obscured in myth and legend, but
there's little question that it's the American descendant of an Italian grape
introduced in California some time early in the last century.
     Zinfandel has always had a faithful, if relatively small, following,
despite the opinion of some nose-in-the-air connoisseurs who considered it a
grape of less than classy antecedents and judged it somehow second-rate.
     In the early 1980s, the U.<TH>S. wine market unpredictably stampeded
toward white wine (which increased its share of the market from less than
one-fifth in 1960 to one-nearly two-thirds by 1980).
     California wine makers, caught with a glut of red grapes and a shortage
of white grapes, "invented" White Zinfandel by using an old French technique,
removing the red grapeskins -- which impart the color -- from the juice as
soon as the grapes are crushed.
     The resulting wine can be made pure white, but it usually retains a
pale, coppery-to-pink color that led some brilliant marketer to dub the
product "blush wine," and they sold all they could make.
     It isn't bad wine, either, especially if you select the best labels and
use the wine as it's intended: As a cooling quaff on a hot afternoon.
     But it's still a weak sister compared with the lusty red wine that
Zinfandel is supposed to be.
     A scent and taste of berries, often akin to blackberries or
strawberries, is a recurring characteristic of the wine, but it varies widely
according to the wine maker's style.
     Some makers produce a fruity, relatively light red Zinfandel in the
style of a French Beaujolais. Others make a more-refined Zinfandel that
evokes a Bordeaux, and some seek "monster Zins:" massive, heavily alcoholic
wines, almost too strong to make a match with food, that could substitute for
Ports for after-dinner sipping.
     There's some indication that the pendulum is swinging back to red
Zinfandel, particularly in the "super-premium" category of wines in the $8
range and up.
     That's good news; this fine wine deserves more attention.
     Here are my tasting notes on a selection of California Zinfandels.

(4 1/2 stars) Ridge York Creek (Napa County) California Zinfandel,
1984. This clear, dark ruby-red wine's aroma adds a pleasant, spicy-pepper
note to appealing blackberries. Its exceptional flavor is full of fruit,
and it's smooth for a Zinfandel, its edges perhaps softened by the addition
of 10 percent Petite Sirah grapes. The berrylike quality lingers in its drily
acidic aftertaste. The best of the wines tasted, it offers Bordeaux-style
refinement without sacrificing the all-American Zinfandel fruit. ($10.79)

(4 stars) Dry Creek Vineyard Dry Creek Valley "Old Vines" Zinfandel,
non-vintage. This excellent wine, a blend of the 1985 and 1986 vintages, adds
25 percent Petite Sirah grapes to the mixture. It's a slightly hazy, dark
ruby-red wine with a heady, plumlike aroma and a ripe taste, full of jamlike
fruit, mixed berries and spice, with a peppery aftertaste and an edge of
puckery tannin that suggests the potential for improvement with age.
($7.99)

(4 stars) Fetzer Special Reserve Mendocino County Zinfandel, 1983. This
clear, dark reddish-purple wine shows a slight brownish tone. Its good, rich
berrylike scent accurately predicts a taste filled with abundant fruit,
backed by a firmly acidic structure and a puckery edge of tannin. It's
palatable now, and will probably gain complexity with several years' aging. ($6.99).

(3 1/2 stars) Sutter Home Amador County Reserve Zinfandel, 1983. This clear,
dark reddish-purple wine lies at the far end of the vinous spectrum from
Sutter Home's ubiquitous White Zinfandel. Its intense aroma breathes mixed
berries and oaky vanilla; its mouth-filling flavor mingles ripe fruit with
tart acidity, and its high alcohol level (15 percent) adds warmth to the
lingering aftertaste. ($7.49)

(3 1/2 stars) De Loach Vineyards Russian River Valley Zinfandel, 1985. This
clear, dark cranberry-color wine's appetizing scent mingles berries and a
touch of vanilla. Its mouth-filling flavor offers plenty of fruit, balanced
by tart, lemony acidity. ($7.59)

(3 stars) Ravenswood Vintner's Blend Sonoma/Napa County Zinfandel, 1986.
This inky, dark reddish-purple wine adds a hint of blackberries to a
pleasant, cedarlike smell reminiscent of a Bordeaux-style wine. Its crisply
acidic flavor seems short on fruit at first but develops after airing in the
glass. ($7.39)

(2 stars) Lytton Springs Sonoma County Zinfandel, 1986. This clear,
dark-purple wine coats the side of the glass with its almost-viscous texture.
It's made in the "blockbuster" style with 14.3 percent alcohol, but its
light, spicy aroma and simple, raisinlike fruit fall short of the mark, and
the aftertaste is focused on harsh alcoholic heat. ($9.19)

     "The Wine Taster" appears every other Wednesday in the Louisville
Courier-Journal Food section. Wine and Food Critic Robin Garr rates table
wines available in the Louisville area, using a one- to five-star scale
determined by quality and value. Send suggestions or questions in care of The
Courier-Journal, 525 W. Broadway, Louisville, Ky. 40202; call [phone],
or send EasyMail to 73125,70.