Articles

Taste: A new dawn for American Zinfandel
Friday, November 10, 2006
By Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher, The Wall Street Journal

Saxon Brown 'Parmelee-Hill, Stonewall Block' 2004 (Sonoma Valley)
PRICE: $24(1)   RATING: Delicious
TASTERS' COMMENTS: Best of tasting. Proof that Zin can be elegant. Structured and fine, but still bursting with peppery, earthy Zin character, with a dry, mineral finish that calls for more. Repeat favorite.

"I should be able to capture the site, so when you taste those wines and become familiar with them, you know what the vineyard's signature is. That's what makes winemaking fun. The vineyard has a personality. It's somewhat like telling a story,"  says Jeff Gaffner of Saxon Brown Wines.

Fine wines sometimes go through what's called a "dumb period." This is a time after a wine has lost its youthful exuberance but before it has knit together into a complex whole, leaving its tastes dull and unimpressive. While this term is generally applied to a specific bottle of wine, we'd say that America's Zinfandel, as a whole, has been going through a dumb period for about a decade.

There was a time when Zinfandel was a wonder, offering a vision of America in a bottle: zesty, confident, spicy. Then Zinfandel became a parody of itself: big, fat, heavy, alcoholic and sometimes sweet. It was impossible to pair with food and hard to drink alone. Unfettered brawn replaced any hint of structure or elegance. It didn't help that Zinfandel's supporters refused to concede what had become of this great grape. They kept pointing out that a few wineries produced excellent examples of Zinfandel, and that was certainly true. But the problem was that most Americans going to the store and picking up a Zinfandel had little chance of a good experience -- and they knew it. As a result, Zinfandel sales have essentially stalled for years. White Zinfandel now outsells the real thing more than six to one. Oh, the humanity.

In our broad blind tastings for this column, we have usually been disappointed in Zinfandel both above and below $20. But in the past few years, we have begun to sense a slight uptick in Zinfandel's pulse. More wineries, most of them small, were showing the way back to glory for Zinfandel. To be sure, they were pretty obscure names -- Saxon Brown, Summit Lake Vineyards and the like -- but it seemed that an increasing number of committed, small wineries were determined to keep the dream of America's special grape alive. You might recall that after our latest tour of Napa and Sonoma, of hundreds of wines we tasted, the single most exciting was a Zinfandel from Talty Vineyards & Winery in Sonoma County.

So we decided to try again this year. Now is the time to do this because some people believe that Zinfandel is the perfect wine to pair with Thanksgiving dinner. We understand the concept. Zinfandel is a uniquely American wine. Though it's originally from Croatia and though it's grown elsewhere these days (we recently had a really bad one from Australia), Zinfandel was a mystery grape in the U.S. for so long that American vintners made it into a wine like no other. The problem now, though, is that many Zinfandels are so heavy and big that they're too overwhelming for any meal that's already big and complex. We prefer an American Cabernet Sauvignon with some age or one of Oregon's fine Pinot Noirs with our turkey.

Still, Zinfandel was one of our first loves, so we set about to see how things are going. We bought more than 50 that cost between $20 and $50 from retail shelves in several states. We focused on the 2003 and 2004 vintages, because those are the ones you are most likely to see. We picked up some of the well-known names -- and the usually reliable R's, including Ridge, Ravenswood and Rafanelli -- but we also scooped up many small-production wines, because that's where the vision seems to lie these days. (We did not see Talty.)

We tasted the wines in blind flights over several nights. We are sorry to report that, overall, Zinfandel continues to be more miss than hit, with ponderous, obvious and sometimes dramatically alcoholic wines (and this note to Zin producers: If you are going to leave your wines obviously sweet, give some hint of that, perhaps just the words "late-harvest" or something, on the bottle, for heaven's sake).

But we are happy to report that the trend line, dragged along by passionate smaller wineries, continues to be slightly positive. In fact, three wines we tasted really would be outstanding with Thanksgiving dinner. One was from Murphy-Goode, which produced 13,000 cases of the 2003 and distributed it in about 40 states (the 2004 is being shipped now, but we did not see it). The other two, unfortunately, were very small-production. One, the best value of our tasting, was from Mill Creek, which produced 280 cases that were distributed in nine states. The third, our best of tasting, truly proved, as we said in our notes, "what Zin can be as a fine wine." Consider these notes: "Classy and structured, with plenty of character. Very fine and very elegant. Oomph and pepper, minerals and great acids, but light on its feet. The fruit shows. Really fine wine. Tastes expensive. Honest wine. Well-integrated. Not overly anything. Ageable." This turned out to be Saxon Brown, which was one of our favorites in our last tasting, too. We wrote then, of the 1999: "Very elegant, with good structure. Truly a fine wine."

When we called Jeff Gaffner, Saxon Brown's owner and winemaker, he said simply: "I like wines that are elegant." He said that, to him, it's all about letting the vineyard speak. That's his quotation at the top of this column. We'd say we love his vineyard's voice.

Saxon Brown made 168 cases of this wine, which was distributed in five states. What's important here, though, is that Saxon Brown and a few others are showing what's possible with Zinfandel -- a wine with character, spice and stature. Interestingly, our three favorites all cost less than $25. If these wineries can make such a good Zinfandel at that price, why can't more? We hope they do -- and we will keep tasting them to see what happens. In the meantime, we'd still urge you to avoid Zinfandel for Thanksgiving unless you have a specific wine in mind that you know you like and that pairs well with a wide variety of food. There are too many on shelves right now that would not do justice to your special meal.

The Dow Jones Zinfandel Index

In a tasting of American Zinfandel between $20 and $50 from recent vintages, these were our favorites. In most cases, these would be better in at least a year or two. Zinfandel is good with roasts, stews and savory vegetable dishes. Prices always vary on wine. For example, we bought the Murphy-Goode at two stores only a few miles apart and paid $16.99 for one and $23.99 for another, while $20 appears to be a more representative national figure. We bought the Rafanelli for $45, but it's a prized wine and some stores sell it for as much as $90. Many Zinfandels are high in alcohol -- 16 percent or more is not uncommon -- but all of these are below 15 percent except the Mill Creek (15 percent) and the Ridge (15.4 percent).