Zinfandel (Zin) is a red-skinned wine grape popular in California for its intense fruitiness and lush texture. Vintners use Zinfandel grapes to produce a wide range of wine styles including sweet White Zinfandels, light bodied reds reminiscent of Beaujolais Nouveau, full bodied dry reds, sweet late harvest dessert wines, and ports.
Vintners have grown Zinfandel in California in quantity for over one hundred years. Many of the oldest wineries in the state grow Zinfandel and the vines are now treated almost like historic landmarks. The vineyards survived Prohibition because the thick skins of the grape allowed it to survive shipping to home winemakers in eastern states. (Limited home winemaking was allowed during Prohibition as well as the making of sacramental wine.) The invention of White Zinfandel in the 1970s further saved the vines. In the 1990s the market for premium wine increased sufficiently that old vine Zinfandel became valuable on its own.
Wineries in Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino, Contra Costa, Alameda, San Luis Obispo, San Joaquin, Amador, El Dorado, Lake and Santa Clara (Santa Cruz Mountains) counties and in the Cucamonga region of Southern California all produce Zins. Wineries particularly known for their Zinfandel include:
- Castoro Cellars
- Cline Cellars
- Niebaum - Coppola Winery
- Rancho Zabaco Winery
- Ravenswood Winery
- Ridge Vineyards
- Rosenblum Cellars
- Sutter Home Winery
- Turley Wine Cellars
In Italy, the Primitivo grape has been found to be genetically identical to Zinfandel. Primitivo and Zinfandel are thought to be two different clones, both originally from Croatia, where it is known as Crljenak Kaštelanski. The link between Zinfandel and Crljenak was discovered through the work of Carole Meredith , a UC Davis geneticist. The Italian wine can be marketed in the U.S. under either name but U.S. zinfandel cannot be called Primitivo in Europe.
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