Zin Went the Strings

If December is the month for our best Cabernets and that special bottle of sparkling wine, January must be the month for Zinfandel. Not only is it time to lay off all those high-priced spreads and fancy meals--which in itself would argue for Zin--January is also the month in which the world’s best tasting occurs.

That this tasting happens in San Francisco is no reason to ignore it. On the last Saturday in January, about 175 producers of Zinfandel and more than 5,000 wine lovers from across the country descend on Fort Mason to taste the latest and the best that Zinfandel has to offer. No self-respecting Zinfandel fanatic can stay away.

The tasting and its accompanying dinners and events are organized by ZAP, for Zinfandel Advocates and Producers. It was formed about 15 years ago when Zinfandel was not the hot item it is today. Seeing the popularity of this full-bodied, rich and zesty red wine on the wane, and with so many of the best grapes going into making White Zinfandel (Zinfandel without color, body or tannin but with plenty of sugar), a group of Zin lovers got together and decided to promote the red wine potential of the grape.

In the early years, it numbered but a handful of producers and a few hundred hardy fans. Now Zin is popular again, and the group must be granted a fair share of the credit for the grape’s reversal of fortune.

The Zins that follow come from many parts of California and cover every part of the price range except for jug wines. Listed prices are about average for competitive brands in competitive stores, but, as always, a bit of looking around can often help you find these wines at substantial discounts. Zinfandel may no longer be the inexpensive red wine of the past, but relative to the prices of Merlots and Cabernets of similar quality, it is still a relative bargain.

* 1997 Beaulieu Vineyard, Napa Valley, $15. This wine is notable mainly for its attractive berryish fruit aromas, with sweet oak and dried brush notes adding interesting highlights. It is medium-full in body and supple on the palate. Though its tannins are somewhat coarse, either serving it with hearty meat or giving it a few years in the cellar will help the wine show at its best.

** 1997 Gary Farrell “Bradford Mountain,” Dry Creek Valley, $30. Gary Farrell’s wonderful red wines are never cheap, and they are not always easy to find. But they are usually worth the search. The nose of this rich, aromatic wine offers scents of ripe raspberries and blackberries with a dollop of sweet vanilla-laced cream for good measure. Fairly full-bodied but wonderfully well-balanced and open on the palate, the wine invites you to enjoy its nearly syrupy concentrated and fruity succulence.

** 1997 Franus Wine Co. “Brandlin Ranch,” Mount Veeder, $24. This generous, rich and jammy wine from high on the western slopes of the Napa Valley veers more toward weight and density than it does to measured restraint. It is very full and intense in flavor, with its dried blackberry first impressions made more interesting by unmistakable suggestions of chocolate and black pepper. Its robust composition cries for the most savory of foods, such as strong cheeses and highly seasoned barbecue.

** 1997 Geyser Peak Winery “D’Ambrosio Ranch, Winemaker’s Selection,” Cucamonga Valley, $30. It has been some time now since the Cucamonga Valley produced a wine such as this. Once Cucamonga produced some of the most sought-after wines in California, but its old, low-yielding vineyards are planted mostly to varieties no longer in fashion. Fashions change, though, and with Zinfandel’s return to prominence--and the new interest in obscure red varieties such as Mourvedre--Cucamonga is at least back on the map. This wine is dense, viscous, ripe to point of smelling a bit of raisins, and absolutely mouth-filling. Though all too many wines of its sort are ponderous, this one is also full of life; it is surprisingly fruity for its weight. Though it may be limited in production, it is worth the search to find one of the best red wines to be made in Southern California in many a year.

$ 1997 Gallo of Sonoma, Dry Creek Valley $11. The least pricey of Gallo’s Sonoma brands (the next most expensive is called Gallo Sonoma, without the “of,” so read the label carefully) provides a very fine example of a moderately priced Zinfandel. It is somewhat rustic, ripe and tannic in character, but what it lacks in smooth edges and expensive oak it more than repays in its straightforward, full-bodied reminder of what Zinfandel used to be before the winemakers started to dress it up in fancy clothes. With luck you may even find it under $10.

*** 1997 Paraduxx, Napa Valley, $35. Well-known ornithophile Dan Duckhorn, best known for his stunning Merlots, produced this wine, which is 65% Zinfandel and 35% Cabernet Sauvignon. It is a stunning amalgam of the intensity and boldness of very ripe Zinfandel mixed with the complexity that can be found in very good Cabernet. Moreover, this wine has almost bottomless fruit--redolent of ripe blackberries, with notes of cassis and sweet spices--that keeps it from becoming top-heavy. Cabernet also gives this wine a sturdy construction that will see it improve in the cellar for six more years or longer. There is no doubt that Duckhorn has set this Zinfandel in the finest and most expensive livery around.

$* 1997 Ravenswood, Napa Valley, $13. New Year’s Eve was reserved for the very best from my wine cellar, but this is the wine we drank two nights later to finish off our slow-cooked pork loin. It was delicious in that setting, and it will be a fine choice with almost any meat dish. It is nicely filled with ripe but bright Zinfandel fruit, and its background notes of sweet oak fit the wine quite handsomely as its restrained tannins and alcohol make it perfect for near-term enjoyment.

* 1997 Tarius Wines, Alexander Valley, $27. Hard-to-find and rather expensive for what it is, this wine is included because Tarius is a new small winery that seems poised to join the ranks of the better producers. Its Zinfandel is a medium-full to full-bodied wine with decent fruit, flashy oak and moderate tannins that call for three or four years of aging. Tarius has also made very good Pinot Noir, and if it can repeat the success of its early efforts, it will be a winery to watch.

* 1997 Unti Vineyard, Dry Creek Valley, $19. Unti is another new winery worth remembering. Winemaker Nick Unti draws grapes from his family’s vineyards in the middle of the Zinfandel-loving Dry Creek Valley, and in this, his first important showing, he has added small fractions of Petite Sirah and Syrah for both structure and nuance. The wine mixes ripe blackberry notes with suggestions of black pepper and cocoa and is supple in first impression while being reasonably full in body. It will age comfortably for several years.

Tickets for the Jan. 29 ZAP tasting in San Francisco are $50 for nonmembers, $40 for members. For more information, contact the organization at (530) 274-4900 or by e-mail at zaprr@oro.net.