Zinfandel (Sonoma Old Vine)

Zinfandel was brought to the United States in the 1820s from nursery stock (initially labeled 'Zinfindal' in Boston) derived from Croatian Crljenak Kaštelanski cuttings. It arrived in California during the Gold Rush and by the 1880s was the most planted variety in the state. UC Davis researchers identified its relationship to Italian Primitivo in 1967 and its Croatian origin through DNA matching in 2001.

Old Vine Zinfandel from Sonoma's Dry Creek Valley and Alexander Valley is California's most original contribution to fine wine — a grape with deep Italian roots (Primitivo, the same variety, originates in Puglia) that was brought to California during the Gold Rush era and planted in hillside vineyards whose gnarly, head-trained vines have survived for 100–130 years without irrigation. These ancient vines produce wines of extraordinary concentration, wild berry intensity, black pepper and baking spice complexity, and a natural sweetness from the grape's high sugar content that must be managed toward dryness in production. Zinfandel's challenge is consistency — the grape's uneven ripening (producing both green-tasting underripe berries and raisined overripe ones on the same cluster simultaneously) demands skilled sorting and winemaking.

FOOD PAIRING: Old Vine Zinfandel's wild berry, pepper, and brambly boldness pairs with grilled, smoked, and spiced preparations. Provenance 1000 pairings: grilled lamb merguez with chermoula (the spice-berry connection), BBQ ribs with smoky sauce (the high alcohol and extract stand up to smoke), aged cheddar with fig jam (the fig-berry harmony), pizza with sausage and roasted peppers, and dark chocolate cherry cake.