Archaeologists believe that the original vine Vitis vinifera has existed since around 6000 BC, and the process of turning its fruit into wine was discovered shortly after. Winemaking fever quickly spread across the Mediterranean.
At one point in history, Croatia grew several indigenous varieties that are now thought to be related to Zinfandel, which was the backbone of the country’s wine industry in the 1800s. It is possible that the grapes have existed in Croatia for longer than anywhere else, despite being almost entirely wiped out by the phylloxera epidemic of the late 19th century. By 2001, a mere nine vines of Zinfandel endured on the Dalmatian coast.
Primitivo is first documented by Italian officials in the 1870s. The name is thought to relate to the grape’s propensity to ripen earlier than other varieties. Since this grape appears to surface some four decades later than Zinfandel, it was once assumed that Primitivo had been introduced to Italy from across the Atlantic, an assumption now dismissed with the unearthing of the vine’s Croatian origin.
Zinfandel grows its best in cool, coastal locations. It is believed that Zinfandel arrived in the United States via Austria, whose monarchy had absorbed Croatia in the 1700s. A shipment of grapes from Austria landed on Long Island during the 1820s and it is believed Zinfandel derived its new name from an Austrian white grape known as zierfandler in Germany and tzinifándli in Hungary.
In 1830, “Zenfendal” was being sold in Boston, and in 1850 a variety called “Black St. Peters” is thought to have arrived in California from England, which later became known as Zinfandel. Joseph W. Osborne’s success with the production of a highly-praised Californian Zinfandel in 1857 resulted in an explosion of Zinfandel planting and it was the most commonly cultivated variety in the state by the end of the 19th century.
The older Zinfandel old vines are now restricted to the production of premium red wine, since many were ripped out in the 1920s during Prohibition. This was despite being a grape highly suitable for shipping because of its thick skin. By 1930, the wine industry had weakened due to the Great Depression and Prohibition, with a shortage of quality wine grapes, of which Zinfandel suffered the worst despite being hailed as “California’s own red grape”.
After some experimentation with the skins using a traditional French method, Sutter Home Winery developed a new variety of wine from the red grapes – “White Zinfandel” – which, in a time of a national white grape shortage, also met the US consumer demand for white wine. This new variety spurred other Californian winemakers to develop “white” wine from red grapes with minimum skin contact. Experimentation to perfect the fermentation resulted in a rosier, sweeter wine and similar to the triumph of Mateus Rosé in Europe after World War II, this new medium sweet White Zinfandel boomed. It now accounts for 10% of U.S. wine sales by volume, six times the sales of red Zinfandel. Research indicates that one out of every ten bottles of table wine opened in America is White Zinfandel. Almost all White Zinfandel wine is produced from purpose-grown grapes in California’s Central Valley.
It took some time for wine critics to be impressed by White Zinfandel, and the modern white Zinfandels have more fruit and less cloying sweetness. It matches perfectly with a crisp fresh salad on a hot summer’s day, cream-based pasta, fish, pork, and other “lighter” meals. It leaves light citrus flavours on the palate, with hints of orange, vanilla, strawberry, raspberry and cherry. In recent years, fruit juices have been added to them just prior to bottling to create new flavoured versions. White Zinfandel does not age particularly well and therefore should be drunk within six months.
Without a doubt the success of this blush wine salvaged the demise of old Zinfandel vines in premium areas, and red Zinfandel wines came back into fashion at the turn of the 21st century. The flavour of the wine depends on the ripeness of the grapes used to make it. Raspberry and other red berries tend to dominate the taste of the wines made in cooler areas, but hints of blackberry, anise and pepper prevail in the warmer areas. The colour of a Zinfandel wine is intense red, almost black, and is best served with pizza, red meat, and anything with a hearty red sauce. Red Zinfandels tend to be at their best when they are young – usually within a year or two – but some makes age well becoming more mellow in taste which some prefer.
