Zinfandel
Zinfandel is a red-skinned wine grape popular in California for its intense fruitiness and lush texture. Zinfandel grapes are made into a wide range of wine styles including sweet White Zinfandels, light bodied reds reminiscent of Beaujolais Nouveau, full bodied dry reds, sweet late harvest dessert wines, and portss.Zinfandel has been grown in California in quantity for over one hundred years. Many of the oldest vineyards in the state are Zinfandel. They survived Prohibition because the thick skins of the grape allowed it to survive shipping to home winemakers in eastern states. Some survived being torn out in the 1970s by the invention of White Zinfandel. In the 1990s the market for premium wine increased sufficiently that old vine Zinfandel became valuable on its own, and the vineyards are now treated almost like historic landmarks.
Many wineries throughout California produce Zinfandel. Zinfandel grapes are grown in Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino, Contra Costa, Alameda, San Luis Obispo, San Joaquin, Amador, El Dorado, Lake and Santa Clara (Santa Cruz Mountains) counties and in the Cucamonga region of Southern California. Wineries particularly known for their Zinfandel include:
- Castoro Cellars
- Cline Cellars
- Rancho Zabaco Winery
- Ravenswood Winery
- Ridge Vineyards
- Rosenblum Cellars
- Sutter Home Winery
- Turley Wine Cellars