Zinfandel! Call it Zin, Primitivo, Tribidrag, Crljenak Kaštelanski, Plavac Mali ... This remarkable grape that found its way from Croatia to Italy and America (and, now, to Australia and beyond) comes in a variety of styles, although ‘big fruit” tends to be a common descriptor. Whether you love it for its march to the beat of a different drummer or approach it with skepticism, we hope you’ll take a moment this month to open a bottle or two, share your thoughts, and - especially - alert us to the exceptional bottles and the great QPR.
Long considered a “mystery grape” because its ancestry was lost, perhaps clouded by the 19th century Barnum-style hype troweled on by Agoston Haraszthy, Zin his recently been reunited with its ancestors thanks to dogged research and DNA detective work in recent years by Dr. Carole Meredith and others.
Here’s a good article in English from a Croatian wine site that sums up in fairly simple terms the search to pin down Zin’s historic ancestry.
https://winesofcroatia.wordpress.com/tag/tribidrag/
This clear, dark reddish-purple wine is made with organic grapes. Its Mendocino County fruit is blended with just a touch (5%) of Zin grapes from Amador County. Typical Zin aromas of blackberries and black plums lead into a fresh, simple but pleasing black-fruit flavor shaped by appropriate acidity and a soft touch of tannins. At 14.2% acidity it's hefty enough but relatively light by modern Zin standards, and benefits from that approach by sparing us the harsh heat that higher alcohol brings to some of its brethren. (Sept. 9, 2015)
