Zinfandel is related to grapes growing along the Adriatic Sea hundreds of years ago. More recently, it's been found to be genetically identical to Italy's Primitivo and Croatia's rare Crljenak Kaštelanski (good luck pronouncing that). The first Zinfandel in the New World showed up in New York 200 years ago and made its way to California in the 1850s. Zin was popular for a long time as part of jug red blends.
By the 1970s, it was falling out of favor to the likes of Cabernet and Merlot. A lot of Zin vineyards were pulled out and replanted, but many were saved by the popularity of White Zinfandel.
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| 100+ year old Zinfandel vines |
Zinfandel was saved by people such as Joel Peterson (Ravenswood Winery), Paul Draper (Ridge/Lytton Springs, and Kent Rosenblum (Rosenblum Cellars). Its later growth was led by Helen Turley (Martinelli, Turley Wine Cellars), Diane Wilson (Wilson Winery), Carol Shelton (Carol Shelton Wines), and others.
Arguably the home of California, Zin is Dry Creek Valley in Sonoma County. SoCo has other areas growing premium Zinfandel including Rockpile, Russian River Valley, and Sonoma Valley. Lodi and Amador County in the interior of the state along with Napa and Paso Robles produce lots of quality Zinfandel.
Lodi also considers itself as the home of Zinfandel, and the area does have a lot of history, but I'll give Sonoma County the nod for the first to popularize its potential as a dry table wine on its own. And I'll call Dry Creek Valley as the best example of what the wine can be.
Zinfandel has changed over the years to where we now have multiple styles ranging from tannic and dry to bursting with red fruit sweetness. Part is because of where it's grown, but mostly it's based on the winemaker's style. For the former there are Dry Creek, Mauritson, Nalle, St Francis; for the latter Bella, Martinelli, Mazzocco, and Wilson (all Sonoma County examples).
BTW, November 17th is National Zinfandel Day.
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