Zintastic!
The first varietal I fell in love with was Zinfandel. My first job and introduction to wine was with Franciscan Oakville Estate. I didn't even know what a Merlot was or what made red wine red or white wine white. Fortunately Franciscan had a large portfolio, including Mt. Veeder, so I was introduced to all sorts of varietals, including Zinfandel. The Franciscan Zinfandel was jammy, while the Mt. Veeder Zin was peppery. I loved both sides of the spectrum.
Over the years I lost touch with Zinfandel. I just wasn't enjoying them like I had ten years ago. I don't know if it was all the zins trying to behave like cabs, or the sensation of my nose hairs burning from the huge alcohol content. Whatever it was, I just didn't get Zin anymore. But then last year I attended the "Good Eats" event at the ZAP fest and suddenly Zinfandel made sense to me. The reason being is that every zin at the Good Eats event is paired with a food. When paired with food, Zinfandel makes sense. The Zinfandel seemed to make every dish taste better and vice versa. Whether a winemaker wants a jammy zin, a peppery zin, a 17.1% zin, or a claret style zin, in the end, zin needs to be with food. This isn't a new trend. This isn't something that ZAP discovered. The family meal is how Zinfandel found its way to the USA.
Well over 100 years ago Italian immigrants brought Zinfandel root stock to the states with them. They often planted the zinfandel amongst a smorgasbord of other varietals and planted what is called a field blend. The grapes were planted sort of haphazardly. They were harvested, crushed, and fermented together. However, the dominant grape was usually Zinfandel.
Sadly, most of field blend vineyards in Napa have been torn out to make way for cabernet. (Casa Nuestra owns one of the last remaining field blends in the Napa Valley). As cabernet became king, zinfandel was demoted to a mere peasant. But last year a group of Napa wineries decided to form the Napa Zin Trail to bring recognition to the family grape. And this month, Small Lots Big Wines features Napa Zinfandel and the family meal with which it was meant to be enjoyed.
This month we've created our own Napa Zin Trail:
Food Pairing for this month's wines: