No grape is as parochial as Zinfandel. Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc, Syrah, Riesling, and Merlot are all capable of making wonderful wine from Oregon to Chile and from New York to New Zealand. Zinfandel, however, achieves transcendence only in California. The grape is related to Italy's Primitivo, but no Italian bottling can match the best West Coast Zins. Australian winemakers, perhaps sensing a stylistic kinship with their monster Shirazes, are making some nice ones as well, but I suspect it will take some time—I'd like to check back in a century or so—before the vines are old enough to generate the complexity and intensity of the top wines from California. Unfortunately, great Zin is hard to find. A recent tasting of 125 of them showed just how difficult, and painful, the search can be. Fittingly for this quintessentially American grape, it's a high-risk, high-reward enterprise. When everything goes right, it packs unparalleled pleasure per sip. But so much can go so wrong.
One thing that sets Zinfandel apart from other wines is its alcohol content—it's almost always really, really high. Nine bottles in our tasting had a reported alcohol content of 16 percent or higher (in the U.S., a 1 percent variation in either direction is permitted on table labels of wines above 15 percent alcohol, so they could actually have been higher), and the ten top wines ranged from 14 percent to 15.8 percent. Even by California standards, those are big numbers.
High alcohol presents a host of potential winemaking problems (not to mention the problems associated with drinking more than a glass): Few yeasts can survive in a high-alcohol environment, so the danger of the fermentation getting “stuck” is great, and the process of restarting the fermentation can create some very unpleasant characteristics. Far too many Zins I've sampled recently have a dusty or powdery smell that I'm told comes from a badly restarted fermentation.
“If a wine is left unfiltered,” says Ondine Chattan, winemaker at XYZin, “the sugar is a breeding ground for a host of unkind ‘bugs.’ They produce what to my palate are undesirable aromas and flavors. And stylistically, I think wines made that way are a betrayal of the varietal character of Zin.”
Geyser Peak's Sandy Lane Vineyard Zinfandel '02, which Chattan made (she's also an associate winemaker at Geyser Peak), was one of the best in the tasting: up-front, ripe berry fruit, a bit of oak, good acidity, all in beautiful balance. The luscious fruit easily supports its 15.3 percent alcohol content, but it has none of the overripe, pruney, or even rotten flavors that appear in some big Zins.
The most crucial aspect of making Zinfandel, however, occurs not in the winery but in the field. Ridge Vineyards was one of the first producers of serious, elegant, even age-worthy wines from the grape. Paul Draper, the winemaker at Ridge since 1969, says, “Ripeness and when to pick are the most difficult issues with Zinfandel. You don't want to pick before the flavors are there, but you don't want to let the fruit overripen. In many years Zinfandel can move from ripe to overripe in a couple of days.”
And overripe grapes make high-alcohol wines. Of the 125 wines we tried, only three of the top wines were 14 percent or under: Frog's Leap 2002, Nalle Dry Creek Valley 2004, and Ridge Three Valleys 2003. This more restrained, claret style was also found in two other wines that showed very well, Scherrer's Old & Mature Vines from the 2001 and 2002 vintages (both 14.5 percent).
The tasting did prove that it's possible to make balanced wine even with high levels of alcohol. Robert Biale Vineyards had 3 wines in the top 15, all between 15.7 and 16.5 percent. They are massive wines, and they were a bit hot, but they still managed to show the fruit and had reasonable balancing acidity. The biggest surprise was Lodi. Five of the top 25 wines were from this less well known region east of San Francisco. All were firmly in the sweet, soft camp, but the fruit was delicious, and they didn't have any major flaws.
Why do some wineries succeed in this balancing act while others fail? Because of the age of the vines. Our top wines varied in location, vintage, alcohol level, and price. But only one was from a vineyard first planted in the past 30 years, and the majority were from vineyards planted between 1901 and 1937. “Old vines provide greater nuance of flavor than do young vines with their more straightforward fruit,” says Draper. “They set small crops, so they self-regulate better, and they typically ripen flavors at lower alcohols than do young vines.”
Less than 15 years ago there were roughly 35,000 acres of Zinfandel, most of which was not meant for high-end wine. Today there are over 50,000 acres planted, and many more-expensive bottlings. Inevitably this means that grapes from young vines are being asked to do things they're not capable of doing. Like, for example, become balanced wines. For that, it appears, we have to look to the oldsters.
ST. AMANT WINERY Marian's Vineyard '03, Lodi, $24
VALHALLA CELLARS Mohr-Fry Ranches '02, Lodi, $25
SCHERRER WINERY Old & Mature Vines '02, Alexander Valley, $28
GEYSER PEAK WINERY Sandy Lane Vineyard '02, Contra Costa County, $30
ROBERT BIALE VINEYARDS Black Chicken '04, Napa Valley, $36
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