Everything You Need to Know About Zinfandel

What do you think when you hear the word ‘Zinfandel’? Do you think about your first ever taste of wine, a cloyingly sweet white Zinfandel, or do you instead think about a rich, robust, fruit-forward red wine that pairs wonderfully with a wide range of foods? Turns out the answer is “both” for me! Let’s talk about why I absolutely love the Zinfandel grape, in all its variations and styles!!

A year or two ago, I wrote a blog series on the Chardonnay grape, and my plan has been to continue that effort with additional posts on the other key grape varieties used for making wine. So, next up is the Zinfandel grape! Why Zinfandel? Because I absolutely love Zinfandel wine, in all its forms, and that includes (or used to include, to be more accurate) the often insipid, overly sweet and frequently mocked White Zinfandel wine. But more on that later!

First, let’s cover the basics – the five things you need to know about Zinfandel. 

1. The birthplace of modern-day Zinfandel is Croatia, where the grape is known as “Tribidrag”. It is also grown in Italy, where it is known as “Primitivo”. But most of the grape known as either Tribidrag, Primitivo, and Zinfandel is grown in the U.S, and more specifically, California.

   
   

2. There are about 46,000 acres of the Zinfandel grape planted world-wide. Compare that to Chardonnay, which has about 520,000 acres planted world-wide. Of those 46,000 acres, about 43,000 acres are planted in California, with the remaining 3,000 acres planted in Italy (2,500 acres of Primitivo in the Puglia region) and the remainder planted in Croatia as the Tribidrag grape. Most of the Zinfandel planted in California can be found in Lodi, Paso Robles, North Coast, and the Sierra Foothills.

   
   

3. The Zinfandel grape can be grown in many different climates, but it thrives in warmer weather climates with lots of sunshine and heat throughout the day. While the wines produced in Italy and Croatia are lighter in style with lower alcohol, those produced in California are usually ripe, rich, and fruit forward with higher alcohol levels in the final wines.

   
   

4. Most wine drinkers were first exposed to the Zinfandel grape by drinking White Zinfandel (also known as “Cougar Juice”, reflecting its popularity amongst older, single women who seek out younger men!), a pink version of Zinfandel that was all the rage in the 1970s and remains popular today. It was originally produced to make use of under-used vines, and was made as a sweet wine with a good deal of residual sugar to appeal to the American palate at the time. Actually, the first version of White Zinfandel was a mistake – the winemaker at Sutter Home was making a pink version of Zinfandel and the fermentation got stuck (meaning the yeast didn’t consume all of the sugar), resulting in a sweet version of rose. They went ahead and put it on the market, and the rest is history!

   
   

5. The flavor profile of Zinfandel is fruit-forward, with notes of blackberry, black cherry, raspberry, black pepper, vanilla, and smoke. The wines are usually rich and full, with medium tannins and higher alcohol levels. Also, Zinfandel is one of the most food friendly wines available. It pairs beautifully with barbeque as well as smoky, spicy dishes. It also pairs well with pizza, pasta, hamburgers, and almost any protein cooked on the grill (your choice – chicken, port, beef, lamb, turkey, or even duck!).

After Chardonnay, Zinfandel might be my next favorite wine. I have a soft spot for this grape variety for two reasons. My first taste of wine was at a Virginia wine festival that Laurie and I went to with friends. Being a good Baptist, I had never even had a sip of wine before then, but Laurie convinced me to try a pink wine they were serving that day. It was light, fruity, and extremely sweet – it tasted like fruit punch or grape juice which I always loved. That was the start of my wine journey!

After I began venturing out and tasting different styles of wine, my first real deep dive into learning about wine focused on Zinfandel. I chose this grape because I loved how fruit-forward the wines were, a style of wine I still love today. So, while Laurie was on her 7-month deployment with the Rosevelt Carrier Strike Group in the Arabian Sea back in 2001, I embarked on a Zinfandel wine-tasting extravaganza that included tastings of 10 different Ravenswood Winery Zinfandels, as well as 15 others from the most popular Zinfandel producing wineries (including Seghesio, Rosenblum, and Robert Biale).

I was captivated by the variety of different styles of Zinfandel each of these wineries were able to produce, and intrigued by the subtle differences based on things like the vineyard in which the grapes were grown, as well as the age of the vines. As a result, I started growing my Zinfandel bottle collection, focusing on single vineyard releases of these wines from Napa, Sonoma Valley, and the Central Coast of California. To this day, we always have a least a few bottles of Zinfandel in our collection to ensure we never run out!

My favorite Zinfandel producer is Robert Biale Vineyards located in Napa Valley, CA. Robert Biale was one of the first wineries Laurie and I visited when we made our first trip to Napa. They were a small wine producer at the time, and focused exclusively on making Zinfandel-based wines. I remember driving to the “winery” for a tasting, which turned out to be in a residential neighborhood in Napa. The tasting took place on the back porch of the Biale’s home, looking out over their vineyards behind their house. We tasted 5 or 6 different Zinfandels that day, poured by the winemaker himself – this was truly a small family business! And we absolutely loved all of the wines – they were fabulous! We were also one of their first wine club members, and usually received about two cases of Zinfandel a year from them.

Fast forward 25 years. Robert Biale Winery now sources Zinfandel and other grapes from 18 different vineyards in California, and produces 24 different wines, almost all single vineyard Zinfandel, but also some Petit Syrah, Sangiovese, and a few red blends as well. My first bottle of their Black Chicken Zinfandel cost $15 – now it retails for $55. Their least expensive bottling of Zinfandel is $28, with their most expensive being $125 – most are sold for around $60 to $70 a bottle. I still buy Robert Biale wines whenever I can find them (for the locals reading this, Total Wine at UTC and Norman’s in Lakewood Ranch usually carry their Black Chicken Zinfandel). Some of my other favorite Zinfandel producers include Seghesio, Ridge, Rochioli, Storybook Mountain, and BACA.

I hope this post convinced you to dip your toes into the wonderful world of Zinfandel – you won’t regret it! And let me know if you want some recommendations for entry-level Zinfandels that will knock your socks off – I’m happy to help!