Zinfandel Can Be Fresh and Crisp

To some people, Zinfandel is a red wine with enough tannin, extract and alcohol to stun a pit bull.

A little more than a decade ago, it used to be made that way. Zinfandel makers became fixated on the praise that big, chewy, overripe wines were getting from some critics and concluded that if big was good, bigger had to be better.

There followed a sort of Heavy Metal Age, when Zinfandels were vinified so full of extract you couldn’t see a light bulb through a glassful. They left the taster feeling as if an over-amped rock band had held a concert in his mouth.

But Zinfandel can make more than one kind of music. There’s a natural spicy quality about its otherwise raspberryish fruit, and when it’s made to accent that quality and downplay astringency, Zinfandel can be as coquettish as Beaujolais or as fresh and crisp as a light Pinot Noir.

It can also be made in a medium-bodied style and then resembles claret, like an unpretentious Cabernet that may be consumed young. As this style of Zinfandel ages, it may actually take on the character of aged Cabernet.

Eventually, it became obvious that when Zinfandels were made dark and brooding, they weren’t particularly drinkable when young and aged poorly, if at all. When consumers realized this in the mid-1980s, there was a rebellion; sales of Zinfandel--apart from the sweetish pink (“white”) versions--drooped badly. Only recently has the variety made a comeback as a red wine. (Partly, I’m guessing, because of excessive Cabernet Sauvignon prices.)

There are still a few deep-flavored, overripe, jammy Zinfandels on the market, and they have their fans, but as Zinfandel sales rebound it’s the claret-like wines that have grabbed the spotlight. The prototype of this style, in my estimation, was created by Doug Nalle as wine maker at Balverne and subsequently Quivira.

Nalle is now making Zinfandel under his own name, and in this column I recently recommended the gorgeous but scarce 1988 Nalle Zinfandel ($12). Today I’ll look at the more widely available (and equally good) 1988 Quivira, which Nalle made before turning the reins over to Grady Wann.

If anything, the ’88 Quivira Zinfandel ($12) has even more of the claret-like blackberry and spice components than the wine Nalle has made on his own, plus a trace of black pepper, probably from the 15% of Petite Sirah used in the blend. “The Petite Sirah keeps the fruit in check early, so the wine develops a little later,” observed Wann of his predecessor’s wine. “The Nalle Zin has more fruit early, but they both develop nicely. Still, they don’t live forever.”

I have tasted older Quivira Zinfandels and they seem to develop in two ways at once, gaining bouquet and becoming more supple in a short time. They are best consumed relatively young.

“The style we’re making focuses on the fruit,” said Wann, who follows Nalle’s methods at Quivira, “and we feel that five years from the vintage is a good target for drinking the wine.” He said consumers may want to age them longer, but after about five years the fruit becomes less obvious and the wine is something different. Perhaps as enjoyable, but different.

To be certain of getting all the naturally spicy fruit the grape has to give, the Nalle technique is to treat the variety quite gently. To that end the wine isn’t even pumped from the tank to the press. The wine is simply drained and then the pomace is bucketed out.

“It’d be easier to put a four-inch pump on the tank and pump it out,” said Wann, “but that would beat it up and extract some bitterness.”

Moreover, after the pomace has been placed in the press the gauge is not pre-set to a particular pressure. “We taste the wine as we press,” Wann said, “and we press just until we taste that the tannins are a little high. Then we quit.”

Aging in small French oak barrels adds a layer of spice and toasty elements, and the final product is aged in the bottle a year before release.

Quivira’s other wines are also stylish, among the best made in the state. I particularly like the 1988 Sauvignon Blanc ($9.25), with a delicate smoked note, layered grass and lemon in the aroma, and a rich, complex finish.

A new wine for Quivira, the 1988 Dry Creek Cuvee ($12) is a Rhone-like red wine that has 40% Petite Sirah, 35% Grenache and 25% Zinfandel. This old-world blend has a rich, complex aroma hinting at roses and cherries, and a soft, almost chocolatey finish. Only 400 cases were produced. It was released June 1.

Other Zinfandels I have liked that exhibit that claret-like approach include the 1987 Burgess ($12), another stylish wine from this Napa Valley producer.

In a blind tasting I staged to test the market for Zinfandel, among the best were the 1987 Clos du Val ($12.50), 1987 Beringer ($9), and 1988 Greenwood Ridge ($10.75). The Clos du Val is made to emulate Bordeaux, so the wine has a hard center right now, but a year or two should smooth it out. The other two are excellent for consuming today.

Another wine that scored well was the 1988 Guenoc ($7), with a light spice and cedar note. I wasn’t as intrigued as I expected I’d be from the 1986 Grgich Hills ($12), which was made in the style of the 1970s--jammy, rich and almost overripe.

One wine that seems to split the difference between the bigness of very ripe grapes and the grace of the claret style is the 1987 Ridge Howell Mountain ($10). The smokey-cedary components are enhanced by real spice and raspberryish tones.

Wine of the Week

1989 Saintsbury Vin Gris of Pinot Noir ($8)--Superb wine making, and it was almost an accident!

Saintsbury’s Dick Ward and David Graves specialize in Pinot Noir. In 1989, fearing that the harvest rains would dilute their Pinot Noir, they wanted to ensure they would have a dark enough color in the wine. So they drew off some pale-colored juice from the top of various lots of the Pinot Noir to give the remaining juice greater contact with the skins, where the color and flavor come from. The juice drawn off was then fermented, put through malolactic fermentation to give the wine breadth, and then into barrels for a short period.

The result is a pink wine that is totally dry but that offers a lovely strawberryish aroma and a trace of vanilla. The wine is nicknamed Vincent Vin Gris, and the label is adorned with a drawing that appears to be a Van Gogh. It was drawn by local artist Bill Shields.