Nothing to blush about
20.05.12
Which red grape variety is best known for its white wines? The answer, sadly, is Zinfandel, of which an astonishing 92 per cent of all grapes planted are made into a thin, sugar-water wine described as white on the label but is that Californian abomination known as “Blush”.
But there is good news on the far distant horizon, apparently more producers are sorting out their best Zinfandel vineyards and making those grapes into red wines. At the other end of the scale, many growers are pulling out this venerable, but relatively unprofitable variety and planting something else. The trouble is that once these old vines, some planted over 100 years ago, are pulled up, those dense rich flavours will be gone forever.
Zinfandel is California’s own signature grape, although these days Australia and South Africa are starting to experiment with it and South America already has some vineyards on stream. It is genetically close to the Primitivo of Southern Italy and the Plavac Mali of Croatia but recent fingerprinting has discovered that it was originally from the Dalmatian Coast where it was known as Crljenak Kaštelanski. How it acquired its easy-to-pronounce name of Zinfandel is unclear, but that name has undoubtedly helped in its distribution around the vineyards of California.
Source: Yorkshire Post