Heart of Zinfandel Hard to Grow the Reason Why Zinfandel Is Controversial
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DRY CREEK ZINFANDEL DRY CREEK ZINFANDEL ‘Pinot Noir is are likely to be very high, and the result will be And it has to be conceded that there is a lot wines with ferocious alcohol. This, surely, is of bad Zinfandel around: wines that are Heart of Zinfandel hard to grow the reason why Zinfandel is controversial. jammy and/or hot, wines with a dollop of At the 2017 Decanter World Wine Awards, a residual sugar, wines with detectable but easy to judge who happens to be one of America’s top greenness. It’s not easy to grow and it’s not Tricky to grow and produced in a range of styles, it can be hard to pin down the sommeliers threw up his hands when I easy to make, either, and many wines flounder character of great Californian Zinfandel. Stephen Brook suggests starting your ferment; announced that the next tasting flight would between harvest and bottling. be Zinfandel. ‘Count me out,’ he said. ‘I just Ed Sbragia, formerly chief winemaker at search in Sonoma’s Dry Creek Valley, and picks out his favourite wines but with Zin hate Zinfandel, so my low scores will scupper Beringer, observes: ‘Pinot Noir is hard to grow any wine’s chances.’ but easy to ferment, but with Zin you never you never know what will happen.’ DRIVING UP TO the Nalle Winery in Dry Creek When you’re making wine from Zinfandel, Expect the unexpected Most winemakers accept that high alcohol Valley, I find Doug Nalle standing outside pragmatism has to be the order of the day. know what Strong words, but not uncommon. A visit to – say, 15% or more – is just part of Zinfandel’s surrounded by bins of freshly picked Zinfandel. It’s a tricky grape at the best of times, being Dry Creek Valley, generally accepted to be the typicity, though others, like Nalle, consciously I peer into one and remark on how healthy the prone to uneven ripening, so winemakers may will happen’ source of California’s finest Zinfandels, strive to make wines about a degree lower. grapes look. There had been a heat spike a few end up with unripe and overripe berries in provided the key. There can be few wines made Antoine Favero, winemaker at Mazzocco, Ed Sbragia days earlier and Zin grapes, which had been their fermenters. Rigorous sorting helps reduce in so many styles. I encountered wines imbued explains: ‘At harvest I’m looking for flavours, exposed to temperatures of up to 45˚C, are this unevenness, but it does make decisions on with red fruits, others with black fruits; wines not just sugars. You have to accept that with susceptible to shrivelling or raisining. when to pick extremely difficult. ‘Flowering is with low acidity, others with higher; wines at Zin you’re likely to end up with some ‘You’re looking at the bin that has been always uneven and so is the maturation,’ says moderate alcohol levels (around 14%) and shrivelled fruit, and uneven ripening can be a sorted. Here’s the bin of raisined grapes – this Nalle, ‘so you get grapes at various stages of many that were 15.5% and above. With problem, though experience helps you judge is fruit I don’t want in my vats. And over there maturation in the same cluster.’ Cabernet Sauvignon, a wine enthusiast will how to deal with that. A few unripe berries is the bin with the bunch rot. That’s going to It is a mantra in California that grapes need have a good idea of what to expect when he or won’t hurt: they can contribute a little acidity. be thrown out. The raisined grapes I’ll ferment Above: Bullock House to be optimally, or phenolically, ripe to be she opens a bottle. That is not the case with It’s possible to add water at fermentation to separately and we’ll probably make a late- vineyard, owned by considered ready for harvest. By the time the Zinfandel, unless you are already familiar with reduce alcohol, but you risk losing some fruit. harvest wine from it. May as well.’ Dry Creek Vineyard bunches reach that ideal position, sugar levels the style of a particular producer. So you need to be very careful.’ ➢ 76 | April 2018 • DECANTER DECANTER • April 2018 | 77 DRY CREEK ZINFANDEL Virginia Marie Lambrix at Truett-Hurst is overripe balancing the underripe. Zin was western side can give harder or edgier wines. typical of many when she asserts: ‘With Zin I chosen by the migrant growers because of its Overall I find the eastern vineyards more like big, bold flavours, so I’m not too worried generous yields, whereas today’s winemakers consistent, especially around Canyon Road.’ about high alcohol.’ Veteran grower and use green-harvesting and other techniques to Kim Stare Wallace, whose father David winemaker Dan Teldeschi of the eponymous reduce yields so as to give more concentrated Stare founded Dry Creek Vineyard in 1972, family winery agrees: ‘Zin can handle high and complex wines. broadly concurs: ‘The western side has more alcohol because of its body and concentration.’ Winemakers such as Hugh Chappelle at iron in the soil, which is reddish and rocky, Personally, high alcohol doesn’t bother me Quivira feel that Petite Sirah plays a useful and this is ideal for Zin. The eastern side has when it comes to Zinfandel – unless, as so role. ‘It adds colour, tannin and structure to more sedimentary soils that give softer wines often happens, I can taste it.’ the wine, and as its alcohols tend to be with more elegance.’ Shelly Rafanelli, between 13% and 14%, it helps to reduce the winemaker at the eponymous estate that owns Old vines overall alcohol in a Zin-based wine,’ he says. vineyards on both sides of the valley, finds the Dry Creek Valley, northwest of Healdsburg, is Centenarian vines are not that unusual in Above: Hugh Chappelle, The same would be true of Carignan, which ‘Zin needs western side better in torrid years, as it can California’s sweet spot for Zinfandel, both Dry Creek, although they too are beginning to winemaker at Quivira also adds acidity, and for Unti Vineyards a resist shrivelling more consistently. because its microclimates suit the variety and disappear as plummeting yields persuade dash of Barbera performs the same role. warmth but Diurnal range is an important factor too. because there are quite a few surviving old growers to replace them with younger, Chappelle and Sbragia both note that night- vineyards. Napa too had some excellent trellised vines. Nonetheless, a drive up the Best sites doesn’t like time temperatures can be around 12˚C, even Zinfandel sites that are gradually being valley will bring into view rows of splendidly The valley is by no means uniform. The more in summer. ‘But that,’ Chapelle points out, ‘is replanted or grafted over to the more sought- gnarled old bush vines. Not that all of them northerly stretches can be considerably excessive the secret of Zin’s healthy natural acidities – after Cabernet Sauvignon. Russian River Valley are Zinfandel. Most of those vineyards are warmer than the southern ones, and by the if you don’t pick too late.’ Elevation also makes has some old Zinfandel vineyards, but because field blends, with Zin representing 70 to 90% time the valley reaches the outskirts of heat’ Doug Nalle a difference and helps to explain the wide it’s a cooler area than Dry Creek Valley, the of the plantings, the remainder being varieties Healdsburg the climate is generally too cool to flavour spectrum of Dry Creek Zinfandel. As fruit often doesn’t ripen until sugars have gone such as Carignan, Petite Sirah, Alicante be optimal for Zinfandel. The best sites are on Favero points out: ‘Vineyards at higher, cooler through the roof. Further north, Mendocino Bouschet, and even white grapes such as the eastern benchlands and the western elevations with marine influence give more has a few surviving old Zinfandel sites, and Palomino. The minor varieties were either slopes and hills. Nalle explains: ‘These sites red-fruited wines and spice, while valley floor some of the most ancient are to the east in the planted by accident or deliberately as an are well drained, and that’s essential for Zin. sites give jammier flavours. But it also depends Sierra Foothills, but here the wines can show a insurance policy, as the grapes, when If it’s growing on poorly drained, valley floor on when you pick, as more raisined fruit will distinct rusticity, although there are some harvested in one swoop, would contain areas, the berries will swell. Zin needs warmth also give darker flavours.’ Some higher sites on distinguished exceptions. bunches at various stages of maturity, the but doesn’t like excessive heat. Sometimes the the western side are extremely close to the ➢ Zins, and this one comes from a site near The palate is sleek and intense, with excessive extraction. Polished tannins Brook’s pick of Dry Creek Valley Zinfandels Lytton Springs Road. Blackberries and ample acidity and fine-grained tannins. and remarkable elegance, acidity and In addition to the wines recommended below I have recently tasted excellent wines from Armida, Bella, Cast, cherries on the nose, while the palate is A pungent but elegant style, with good length. Drink 2018-2028 Alc 15% Comstock, Dutcher Crossing, Preston, Ravenswood, Sbragia, Truett-Hurst and Unti rich and opulent, with vibrant fruit and a length. Drink 2018-2025 Alc 14.5% long, chewy finish. The alcohol shows on Dry Creek Vineyard, A Rafanelli, Zinfandel 2015 92 but cut by welcome acidity.