Red Zinfandel – the “Black Lab” of Red Wine

Hello Everyone! In this post, we are going to do a short survey of red Zinfandel. Zinfandel has been called the “Black Lab” of wines because it is usually a very versatile wine that just enjoys being around you. Depending on the style, you can have it as an aperitif, as the main wine to go with a barbeque, steak, or even Thanksgiving fare. You can even have some of the richer Zins with dessert – they go great with chocolate. Or you can just drink it by itself when relaxing by a fire. It really is that flexible and happily goes along with everything. Our very first experience with red Zinfandel was in 1996 at the Brew Moon pub in Boston. Our friend Tim was bartending, and he gave us a nice sampling of the wines. We spent many Sundays enjoying food, wine, brew, and good conversations at the Brew Moon. It’s kind of interesting that we got our start in red Zinfandel with Beringer’s red Zin, as they are well known to many for their White Zinfandel.

Wine researchers have been looking into the origin of Zinfandel for years, and have determined that it is equivalent to the Croatian grape Crljenak Kastelanski. You’re not likely to find anything with this name, but if you look in your Italian wine section, you may see a few wines called Primitivo. Primitivo comes from the eastern “heel” of Italy known as Apulia (Puglia), and is the genetic equivalent of Zinfandel. Like many varietals that are grown in multiple locations around the world, you can get different profiles.

California Red Zinfandel

We are going to start with a discussion of California red Zinfandel, which can be bottled on its own or blended with other grapes. Typical complimentary grapes are Syrah, Grenache, Petite Sirah (also known as Durif), Carignan, and Mourvedre. Depending on the alcohol levels and blends it develops strawberry, then cherry and finally blackberry flavors at riper, higher levels of alcohol. As the alcohol levels approach 15%, raisin flavors begin to develop and at higher alcohol levels, the wines are almost like the fortified wines of Port.

Zinfandel runs the range of alcohol levels from 13.5% up to 16.5%. At 13.5%, they tend to reflect the fruity strawberry character of the wine. To use a phrase from my cousin’s husband, some of the cheap Zinfandels can taste like “motivated grape juice” – i.e. too jammy. We have found that the optimal alcohol level that balances flavors and fruit is 14.2% to 14.5%, where there more rich complexity to the wine. Additionally, we find that those Zinfandels blended with Petite Sirah and have significant oak aging make the most complex wines, balancing the strawberry and blackberry flavors with oak, vanilla and coffee tones, with some pepper and spice. The Petite Sirah adds the tannins to round it all out. A good oaky, tannic Zinfandel with all of its fruit can rival a good Cabernet and we are eager to keep finding producers of this style.

You will also notice that several zinfandels are called “Old Vine Zinfandel.” The old vine designation is like akin to the word reserve. It has no legal definition, but the usual standard is that the vines that produced the grapes are 50 to 80 years old. If you see “Ancient Vines,” the vines are likely over 80 years old. You are getting some wine with vines that have some real history. They are thick, gnarly vines that have low yields, and as a result, the grapes have intense concentrated flavors. Old vines often add a bit of licorice, spice, and earth to the flavor profile.

When people ask about Zinfandel, our general rule of thumb rule is pick one that begins with the letter “R.” Start looking for Ravenswood, Ridge or Rosenblum. A bottle of Ridge wines will tell you the blend of grapes on the bottle, which is very useful. Ravenswood has a number of different styles and price points that are fun to sample. Murphy-Goode made a great woody, earthy version called Liar’s Dice, and we have also enjoyed releases from EOS and St. Francis. We also liked the Zin from Clos du Val which we frequently drank while living in Bermuda. Unfortunately Clos du Val only produces Zinfandel for the export market, but they do produce a Primitivo in United States. Good “Old Vines” designated wines will run you $20 – $25 but there are plenty of Zinfandels in the $10 - $15 range. There are so many out there and the best way to find out is to buy a few and have some fun tasting them.

Primitivo

We first encountered Primitivo in March of 2002 at a special Frederick Wildman tasting in Boston. Mike Gilly, the “wine guy” at Blanchard’s in Jamaica Plain offered us complimentary tickets to the event. We would often seek out Mike’s advice for something new or when we had a choice between two wines, and he never steered us wrong. The tickets were a great gift. We were able to try vintage port from a barrel and were introduced to Primitivo from the winery of Feudo Monaci.

We were trying different wines at the tasting, when we noticed there was a large crowd around one of the tables. As it turns out, the winemaker from Feudo Monaci was at the event pouring both the Primitivo and the Salice Salentino (made from the Negroamaro and Malvasia Nera grapes). Well, the wine was a hit that night and success followed, because the winery has since changed from Feudo Monaci, meaning “fiefdom of the monks” to Castello Monaci, “castle of the monks.” The monks are doing well.

This Primitivo is very dark crimson, almost inky in color. There are notes of pepper and vanilla as well as some green herbs, black fruits, and licorice. As expected, there is a similar flavor profile as Zinfandel, but a completely different taste. Sometimes Primitivo is blended with Negroamaro to give it more tannin and earth. Primitivo is a drier form of Zinfandel than its California counterpart. It is definitely a much more rustic wine. Another great Primitivo that we found is from Cantele, also from Apulia. And we have recently become fans of the Primitivo from Layer Cake (of Layer Cake Shiraz fame) – which comes with a screw cap, another plus. A-Mano is another popular label. Primitivo generally runs in the $10-$15 range but don’t let the price fool you, many of the wines are from old vines and taste much more expensive than they are.

So next time you want a red that will be happy with no matter what you serve, reach for a Zinfandel or Primitivo and have some fun with the “Black Lab” of red wines.

Like what you drink, drink what you like!

Rachel and Bryan Gavini