Real
Zinfandel is red, a fact many wine drinkers are rediscovering
now that the trend for "white" Zinfandel has
stabilized.
"Peppery," "briary," "brawny"
and "chewy" are only a few of the adjectives
used to describe this mouth-filling wine. It has a real
zest for matching up with tomato-based pasta dishes. It
is one varietal that the first Italian winemakers propagated
and cultivated when they came to California. Though it
was previously thought to be the Italian primitivo and
the Croatian plavac mali a grape, DNA profiling has linked the
varietal to crljenak kastelanski also from
Croatia and,
in fact, the father of plavac mali. Today it's a
grape variety that is almost unique to California. Vintners
in Napa, Sonoma and Amador seem to do the best job with
it. Other states like Arizona, New Mexico and Texas are
trying as well. It has been planted in other world regions
more recently.