Zinfandel

In
a delicate
balancing act,
winemakers are
striving to capture
the structure of
Cabernet Sauvignon
while retaining
Zin’s spicy
personality.
BY STEVE HEIMOFF
Z
infandel has had more reincarnations than the Dalai Lama. We’ve
Zinfandel, white Zinfandel, Zinfandel Port, Zinfandel rosé and Zins so
tannic they make your tongue grow hair. What California hasn’t seen enough of,
though, are balanced Zinfandels, with the nobility of a fine Cabernet Sauvignon.
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PHOTO JON VAN GORDER
seen Zinfandel Nouveau, late-harvest Zinfandel, sweet Zinfandel, dry
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roir to rise to classic status. Grow it in an inferior
locale—too hot or too cold, in soils that are not
well-drained and are overly vigorous—and no
subsequent effort will result in excellence.
Mountain-grown Zins along the North Coast
start with a built-in advantage: warm, sunny days
for ripening; cool, crisp nights for acid retention; and (usually) meager soils. Reed’s Gary
Farrell 2006 Bradford Mountain Zinfandel, for
example, was grown 1,000 feet above Dry Creek
Valley, where the red soils (Reed calls them
“terra rossa”) are so sparse and well-drained, the
vines couldn’t possibly overproduce. These lowyielding vines give what Reed calls “wines with
finesse and delicacy, yet rich at the same time.”
Mount Veeder is the source of Schulz’s 2005
Lampyridae Vineyard Zinfandel. These vines grow at more than 2,000
feet in altitude, in thin volcanic soils that result in yields of a meager
11⁄2 tons per acre. Alcohol is well above 15%, but the wine is so balanced, you don’t notice it (unless a European palate makes you allergic
to anything much above 14%). “You’d almost think it was a fruit
bomb,” says Schulz (whose day job is VP of sales and marketing at Von
Strasser). But, he notes, many so-called “cult” Cabernet Sauvignons
also have high alcohol, which is only a problem when the wine lacks
definition. “Lampyridae’s elevation and volcanic soils give the wine
backbone,” Schulz says.
Other examples of concentrated, balanced mountain Zinfandels are
Phipps Family Cellars’ 2006 Treborce Vineyard Zinfandel and Dry
Creek Vineyard’s 2005 Beeson Ranch Zinfandel. Both hail from Dry
Creek Valley hillsides, and the wines, while distinctly Zinny in their
Low yields are key
spicy briars and brambles, possess a claret-like elegance. Andy Phipps
Winemakers who succeed with Zin say the key lies in the vineyard. calls his Zin “a Cabernet-lover’s wine, on the balanced side of the specZinfandel, like any superior variety of vitis vinifera, requires great ter- trum.”
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PHOTO LEFT R & K MUSCHENEZ/CEPHAS; BOTTLES JON VAN GORDER
Thankfully, that’s changing. Fed up with the
clumsy Zins of the past, a new cadre of winemakers is crafting a new wave of Zinfandels to
cheer wine devotees in the coming year. And
what will these new and improved Zins be like?
That is best answered by asking the opposite
question: What happens when Zinfandel goes
bad?
The grape is a notoriously uneven ripener.
“On the same cluster, you can have pink fruit,
ripe fruit and raisins,” notes Chris Dearden,
winemaker at Benessere, in the Napa Valley.
That fatal combination of unripe and overripe
fruit results in unbalanced flavors and harsh textures.
Then too, Zinfandel grapes have a tendency
to get very high in sugar, especially in California’s warmer areas, where
most of it grows. That can make the wines too alcoholic, too great in
residual sugar, or both. “I just don’t want that Porty, raisiny style,”
declares John Schulz, who crafts Zinfandel at Schulz Cellars.
Finally, Zinfandel can lack the balancing aspects of acidity and tannins, making it what Dry Creek Vineyard’s winemaker, Lisa Bishop
Forbes, calls “a jammy fruit bomb,” a fault often compounded by a
heavy plaster of sweet new oak.
“Zinfandel should never be heavy,” sums up Susan Reed, the winemaker at Gary Farrell, a winery known for elegant wines. “I don’t want
to produce those overly extracted, over the top, too much oak [Zinfandels]. They’re fatiguing.” A classic Zinfandel must be “a balancing act,”
in the words of Bluenose’s winemaker, Paul Brasset.
PHOTO TOP RIGHT MICK ROCK/CEPHAS
Left to right: The Benessere winery, amid the vines; Susan Reed, winemaker
at Gary Farrell Winery; sun-drenched vineyard near the summit of Mt.
Veeder; springtime mustard flowers in a Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel vineyard.
wave Zinfandels.
“It takes a lot of trips into the vineyard to achieve evenness in ripening,” says Brasset, at Bluenose. “We do shoot thinning in the early
stages of growth, to make sure we don’t have too many leaves and
shoots.” That lets the sunshine in on the berries, which helps to ripen
them. Reed, at Gary Farrell, points out how Bradford Mountain Vineyards’ viticulturalist, Warren Burton, “selectively removes leaves to
expose grapes, getting better sunlight and air circulation, which results
in improved flavors and aromatics, improved color, and nice, soft, fine
tannins.” She calls this a “huge uptick in viticultural practices” from the
past, when some grapegrowers feared that sunlightdirectly hitting the
grapes would scorch them.
A different, terroir-based strategy toward the same end, balanced
ripening, is illustrated at Phipps’ Treborce Vineyard, which is planted in
the eastern hills of Dry Creek Valley. It gets the late afternoon sun,
But don’t think that classic Zinfandel can only come from hillsides. during the hottest part of the day, which could result in overripe, shrivAs with nearly every rule, there are exceptions. Two beautiful Zins eled berries. “But we leave the canopy heavy on the sun side,” Andy
from Napa Valley hail from the flatlands near the Napa River: the
Titus 2006 Zinfandel and the Benessere 2006 Estate Black Glass Vineyard Zin. The key in these more fertile soils is controlling crop loads.
That reduces production, but allows the vintner to produce
richer wines, for which he then can charge more
money. “We severely thin the vines,” says Dearden, at Benessere. But then, he can charge $40
per bottle for his 335-case production.
At Titus, where Eric Titus is the grapegrower
and brother Phillip is winemaker, they similarly
manage to produce Zinfandels of classic elegance
despite the grapes being grown on the flats. “A
good Zin has two components: structure and flavor,” observes Eric. “If you have one without
the other, you’re lost.” Because of the Napa
River’s repeated flooding over millennia, the
estate vineyard sits atop a gravel pile that
facilitates drainage. Eric believes the age of
his vines, 35 years, also helps to add depth to
the wine. Just in case it might be a little too
light, however, Phillip adds a percentage of
Petite Sirah to the blend, for greater density
and weight.
It seems that every time you start to draw
conclusions about flatlands versus hills, you
encounter wines that prove the exception.
Odds against even ripening
The location of the vineyard matters, and so do
low yields, but making sure that the berries ripen
evenly is the most challenging part for today’s new
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Phipps notes. It’s a sort of umbrella against sunburn” Granted, he
notes, “a few clusters get some raisins, but that’s not a bad thing. It can
add layers” of currants and grilled berries to the wine.
All the winemakers profiled here employed enological techniques
borrowed from Bordeaux. They picked their grapes at between 24–26
degrees of brix, a sweet spot that ensures ripeness, but prevents alcohol levels from climbing too high. They destemmed the clusters (which
makes the wines less tannic and more fruit-forward), cold soaked the
grapes for between 2–6 days (“to extract flavor and color, without getting harsh tannins,” says Reed), fermented in the stainless-steel tanks
must, then transferred the young wine to small barrels (French, American, Hungarian) that are between 33–63% new. Malolactic fermentation, which makes these red wines more mellow, is routine. The use of
American oak on California wines has been hotly debated. Although
some winemakers feel that it clashes with the high-toned character of
Cabernet Sauvignon, “Zin and American oak are like hand and glove,”
declares Dearden.
North Coast rules
Many regions in California specialize in Zinfandel, including the Sierra
A MIXED CASE OF CALIFORNIA ZINFANDEL
95 Gary Farrell 2006 Bradford
94 Phipps 2006 Treborce anise, but especially crushed
Mountain Vineyards Zinfan- V i n e y a r d Z i n f a n d e l ( D r y black pepper. A worthy foldel (Dry Creek Valley); $40. Creek Valley); $38. A beautiful lowup to the great 2005.
Shows a dramatic interpreta- Zinfandel that shows the ele93 Benessere 2006 Estate
tion of Dry Creek terroir, with gant balance of a fine Cabernet Black Glass Vineyard Zinfanintense wild berry, mocha and Sauvignon, but with Zin’s exu- d e l ( N a p a Va l l e y ) ; $ 4 0 . A
berant personality. It’s powerful in wild blackberry, black
raspberry and mulberry fruit,
with cola, mocha and
chamomile notes liberally
accented with crushed black
pepper, nutmeg and cinnamon
spice. Finishes complex, long
94 Bluenose 2005 Zinfandel a n d a b s o l u t e l y d r y. R e a l l y
(Dry Creek Valley); $30. What defines Dry Creek Zin at its
a great followup to the 2004. best.
94 Schulz 2005 Lampyridae
Bluenose’s 2005 Zin is as pretty
and polished as Dry Creek Val- Vineyard Zinfandel (Mount
ley Zinfandel gets. The struc- Veeder); $30. Serious Zinfanatture is just beautiful, with ripe, ics have another wine to confirm tannins and fine acidity, sider with this big, bold and
while the oak is perfectly inte- impressive release from way up
grated. The flavors? Waves of on Mount Veeder. It’s dense in
black and red currants, black blackberry, cherry, cola, tangerlicorice, black pepper and other ine, fig and dusty Asian spice
spices, and a subtle, rich streak flavors that go on and on, lastof chocolate. Just irresistible. ing into a long finish that’s
Editor’s Choice.
thoroughly dry. Just delicious
94 Dry Creek Vineyard 2005 n o w, a n d w i t h t h e t a n n i c
Beeson Ranch Zinfandel (Dry integrity to last for years.
93 Bella 2006 Lily Hill Estate
Creek Valley); $34. With a
splash of Petite Sirah, this Zin is Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley);
dark and exceedingly powerful $36. A beautiful wine that
in blackberry and cherry fruit as brims with rich varietal characwell as notes of dark chocolate, ter and shows off how well Dry
licorice, Chinese five-spice and Creek Valley grows Zinfandel.
white pepper for complexity. A Floods the mouth with soft,
dramatic wine that calls for polished flavors of blackberries,
dramatic food.
cherries, currants, mocha and
spice flavors that are so ripe,
they veer into currants and
grilled blackberries. Entirely
dry, the wine is marked by rich,
complex tannins. Superb, a
great wine, as good as Zinfandel gets. Drink now through
2012. Editor’s Choice.
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mighty good Zin that shows
again how beautifully Napa
Valley can ripen this difficult
variety. Made from the winery’s
St. Helena estate vineyard, this
wine has the classic structure of
a fine Cabernet, but with Zin’s
plummy, wild berry and spice
flavors.
93 Deerfield Ranch 2005
Buchignani Garcia Vineyard
Old Vine Zinfandel (Dry Creek
Valley); $55. Not many people
cellar Zinfandel but this is one
you might want to put away
for a few years. It’s very dry and
tannic and extraordinarily
dense, with a complex spectrum of red and black currant,
pomegranate, molasses cookie,
baked cherry pie, root beer,
cocoa and peppery spice flavors
that go on and on. Shows Zin’s
full-bodied power, with a fruity
sweetness that seduces the
palate. Absolutely delicious,
but if you’re allergic to high
alcohol, go elsewhere.
elegance. The ultra-refined tannins frame flavors of berry jam,
currants, mocha, licorice and
pepper. This is really a superior
Zinfandel.
93 Vineyard 29 2006 Aida
Vineyard Zinfandel (St.
Helena); $75. A beautiful Zin,
lush and classically proportioned, despite some fairly
hefty alcohol. With ultrarefined
tannins, fine acidity and lots of
new oak to provide a smoky
structure, it’s rich and complex
in currants, cassis, mocha, pepper, cinnamon and 5-spice flavors. Blended with Petite Sirah
and Cabernet Sauvignon, it’s
fine now and through 2012.
92 Madrigal 2005 Zinfandel
(Napa Valley); $26. This is a
beautiful Zinfandel. It exhibits
all the wild, exotic forest berrycherry flavors you could want,
flooded with briary spices and
notes of currants and mint that
go on forever in the finish. Yet
it also has Napa’s perfect tannins and the balance of a fine
Cabernet Sauvignon. First-class
Zin, a chef’s dream to play with.
92 Stephen & Walker 2006
Zinfandel (Russian River Valley); $39. Dusty Asian spices
93 Titus 2006 Zinfandel mark this beautifully varietal
(Napa Valley); $27. A beautiful wine. It’s classic Sonoma Zin,
Zinfandel, softly tannic and
lush, and showing how Napa
Valley dominates the variety
when it comes to balance and
totally dry and firmly tannic,
with a wealth of smoky, briary
wild berry, tobacco and tamari
flavors. Bring on the sausage.
Andrew and Jennifer Phipps (and support staff), of Phipps Family Cellars in
Dry Creek Valley; John Schulz of Schulz Cellars; Lisa Bishop Forbes, winemaker at Dry Creek Vineyards.
Foothills, Paso Robles, inland Mendocino and Lodi. But I’ve found
that the top, most consistent growing areas for the variety, resulting in
wines I score most highly, are in the North Coast, and specifically
Napa and Sonoma. (Santa Barbara County has proved too cold for
We’ll never settle the question of whether old-vine Zinfandel, which typically is
head-trained rather than trellised in the modern style, necessarily makes better
wine. Suffice it to say that vintners with access to old vines believe (or claim to
believe) old vines are best, as their marketing materials invariably state. (The
term “old vines” has no legal definition, although a recent initiative from Australia defines the term as vines 35 years and older.) Some winemakers say that
old vines are “mother blocks” of “original clones” that add a mysterious,
romantic antiquity to Zinfandel, as opposed to newer, laboratory-developed
clones. Others say the older a grapevine, the deeper into the soil its roots penetrate, giving them access to a strata of minerals not found nearer the surface.
Another benefit of deeper roots, these winemakers claim, is that they access
deep sources of moisture, giving the vines greater protection from heat waves,
and in some cases enabling dry-farming.
It’s really impossible to draw any definite conclusions concerning old vines. Certainly, Titus’s old vines, and the juice from 90-year vines Brasset blends into his
Bluenose, don’t hurt. But there are Zinfandels out there, made from century-old
vineyards, that commit every crime in the book. So just because a vine is ancient
means very little. The proof is in the bottle.—S.H.
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Zinfandel.) Look to appellations like Dry Creek Valley, Russian River
Valley, Alexander Valley and Napa Valley, including various subappellations such as Mount Veeder, Oakville and Rutherford.
Why? Influenced by Cabernet Sauvignon, vintners there have formalized a red wine model that is rich but balanced, delicious yet elegant, and dry. These are wines that contain within themselves a tension
of opposites—an artistic style, if you will—that now has been applied
to Zinfandel. Schulz recalls tasting his Lampyridae Vineyard Zinfandel
with Elias Fernandez, the head
winemaker at Shafer Vineyards (in other words, a
guy who knows something
about Cabernet Sauvignon). “He told me my Zin
is very Cabernet in style,”
Schulz recalls.
Why drink Zinfandel if
Cabernet is available? Zin
fanatics will think the
question is ridiculous. Eric
Titus answers it in a perfectly reasonable way:
“People look for good
structure, but also for flavor nuances that are identified with Zinfandel.”
Cabernet Sauvignon
can’t be Zinfandel, and the
great, new wave of balanced Zinfandels can’t be,
and wouldn’t want to be,
Cabernet.