[wine] Zinfest, Ribfest at Bob's

Had a very nice time at the Greggorys. Bob's Extra-Vin-Zin-ganza, Ertravigan-zin, Whatever! Zins and Ribs at Bobs Thursday, 29 July 2004 6:30 Primitivo Bob Kyllingstad's Hibernaculum 121 Washington Ave 612-672-0607 Party room is 315 Security code is 018. Most of us will buy ribs to share/pass at ribfest. Some brave souls will prepare their own ribs, salads, desserts to share/pass. Looks to be a relativley large group (say 20+). So mangnums or pairing up to bring 2 bottls of same label/vintage would be a nice touch. Bob Dave K? Dave T? Lori Ruth Greggory Bill S Jim/Louise Mark/Gloria Nicolai Many more that I can only guess at. e.g. Ted and Carmen Bill Joyce Zinfandel 2001 91-93 Should be memorable (mid 90's on the "100" point scale. 100 point scale my flask. When was the last time anyone saw a 50, 60 or even 70 point rating?). 2000 84 mixed quality Drink 1999 89 solid, rich, ripe, high EtOH. 1998 83 "challenging" Difficult, etc. 1997 90 1996 86 1995 95 1994 96 1999 Better than 98. Quality varies with some wines showing "late harvest" effects such as residual sweetness, dried fruit flavors, etc. Also be aware that some of the 99 CA Zin's are quite high in EtOH. (jle) Food; Features Desk; Food Wine Solved: The Great Zinfandel Mystery The birthplace of California's signat ure grape turns out to be Croatia ROD SMITH 07/10/2002 Los Angeles Times Home Edition Page H-1 Copyright 2002 Los Angeles Times One of the biggest mysteries in the wine world appears to be solved. A UC Davi s plant geneticist has confirmed the Old World origin of Zinfandel--and it's not Italy . "Zinfandel comes from Croatia," says Carole Meredith. "The grape we call Zinfa ndel, and the grape the Italians call Primitivo, are both Crljenak Kastelanski." That's Crljenak Kastelanski: pronounced tsurl-YEN-ahk kahstel-AHN-ski. Its dis covery answers a question that has fascinated wine lovers and scientists for more tha n 100 years: Where did California's signature wine grape come from? Meredith's research culminates a 35-year search by two generations of scientis ts facing nearly impossible odds. With more than 10,000 grape varieties in the world, lo cating Zinfandel's Old World source was like finding the proverbial needle in the hay stack. In fact, Crljenak is a forgotten variety in its homeland, Dalmatia, and the more than 1 ,000 islands off its coast in the Adriatic Sea. So far, Meredith and her team have found only 2 0 Crljenak vines, planted among other grapes in three locations. But 20 vines is enough to rescue the original Zin from oblivion--and that's im portant well beyond the satisfaction of establishing Zinfandel's pedigree. Aside from givin g Zin new legitimacy among the wine world's leafy aristocrats, the discovery closes the genetic gap between modern California Zinfandel vines and their ancient forerunners. Who k nows what sensory delights await Zin lovers once the old Croatian clones become part of the California vineyard mix? When Meredith revealed her finding casually to friends and colleagues this spr ing, the news electrified the wine world. She will formally present her discovery in August at a grape genetics conference in Hungary. She is also working on a paper to be published early next year in the Journal of Enology and Viticulture. The quest to solve the mystery of the Mystery Grape is a scientific whodunit w ith a diverse cast of characters. When Meredith became the chief detective on the case in 19 91, it had already been in progress for decades. UC Davis professor Austin Goheen and gra duate student Wade Wolfe laid the groundwork in the 1960s and '70s. The legendary Na pa Valley vintner Miljenko "Mike" Grgich, a native Croatian, was a key informant. The in vestigative team included scientists, historians, grape growers and students in California , Italy and Croatia. Serendipity played a part, too. One of the most important contributions was ma de by a Croatian student at UC Davis. Jasenka Piljac was a dishwasher in Meredith's la boratory in the early '90s. After graduating from Davis and returning to Zagreb, Piljac se rved as translator and research assistant during Meredith's 1998 sleuthing mission. "T he timing worked out very well," says Meredith. "I would not have been able to do it wit hout her. And that's an example of the almost eerie way things have fallen into place on thi s quest." The mystery of Zinfandel has haunted wine lovers and viticulturists for more t han a century. Unlike every other fine wine grape in the state, Zin apparently had no Europea n homeland. Cabernet came from Bordeaux, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from Burgundy. But for all anyone knew, Zinfandel came from outer space. Recent historical research, largely by wine historian Charles Sullivan, has re vealed that the first "Zinfendal" vine appeared in a Long Island, N.Y., nursery in the 1820s. It may have come from the gardens of the Austrian imperial palace in Vienna, which in the 18th century included vines from every part of the empire, then including Croatia. Once in the United States, the vine went out West just after California's statehood in 1850, and it is thought to have shown up in the Sonoma Valley in 1859. It arrived in the midst of viticultural mayhem. Because California has no nati ve wine grapes, hundreds of grape varieties were being imported and planted during that period of explosive development. Some were misnamed, others were known by multiple names. Zinfande l was just a face in the crowd. Yet within a few decades it was the most planted red grape in the state; only in 2000 was it finally overtaken by Cabernet Sauvignon. Ultimately, Zinfandel became the symb ol of California wine. Fast-forward to the late 1960s. Goheen, the legendary UC Davis viticulturist, is traveling in Southern Italy in Puglia, near Bari. He tastes a spicy, berryish wine that str ongly reminds him of Zinfandel. He asks to be taken to the vineyard--and finds himself looki ng at vines that appear to be Zinfandel. His hosts call the vines Primitivo. That got the wheels turning. Goheen brought Primitivo cuttings back to Califor nia and confirmed that--visually, at least, since DNA testing wasn't yet available--th ey seemed indistinguishable from Zin. Shortly thereafter, Wolfe, a doctoral candidate in plant genetics, announced to the American Society of Enology & Viticulture that isozyme analys is (a precursor of DNA testing) showed that Zinfandel and Primitivo were probably th e same. The Cutting Edge By the late 1980s, DNA profiling was developed to a high degree of accuracy, a nd Meredith was on its cutting edge. She used it to demonstrate that the grape known as Pi not Blanc in California was different from the French Pinot Blanc and was, in fact, the obs cure variety called Melon. Meredith's assistant, graduate student John Bowers, would later use the same techniques to show that Cabernet Sauvignon was an offspring of Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Franc. Now, Meredith turned her attention to Zinfandel and Primitivo. "Here was a mys tery, and I thought I could find the answer," she recalls. "That was the scientific driver ." But there was more to it than just the challenge. "Since we know what part of Europe all our other varieties came from, we know where to look for new clones that will give us diversity in California vineyards," says Meredith. "With Zin, all we could do was look in old Californ ia vineyards. But if we knew where it came from, we could look there and find more diversity to greatly improve the range of clones." The DNA tests used on plants are the same as those used on humans. Tissues (wh ether blood, muscle or leaf) are subjected to chemicals that dissolve components pro gressively until all that's left is a clear substance containing DNA molecules, each composed o f sequences of nucleotides repeated over and over. A machine scans the isolated DNA for speci fic sequences, marks them and makes millions of copies that are finally visible as bands on g el. Then they can be compared with DNA from other plants. In 1992, 25 years after Goheen's suspicions were aroused, Meredith ran a DNA t est on tissue samples from Primitivo and Zinfandel vines. They appeared to be indistinguisha ble. But the tests were still rudimentary, so it wasn't until 1995 that a more advanced DNA analysis convinced Meredith that the two vines were, in fact, the same variety. But what did that mean? Primitivo was not a native Italian grape. Sullivan and other historians believe it may have been introduced during the 18th century, possib ly by Catholic monks. However, no wines were labeled Primitivo before the 1890s, long after Z in was established in California. In any case, the true homeland of Primitivo-Zinfand el was unknown. Is it the Same? In the early 1980s, the writer Leon Adams suggested that Zinfandel might be th e same as Plavac Mali, a widely planted Croatian red grape that yields a berryish, tanni c wine similar to Zin. That idea was pressed in the '90s by Mike Grgich, who had immigrated from Croatia as a young winemaker in the 1950s and gone on to become a pillar of the Napa Valley wine community. Grgich (who produces a Plavac Mali wine in Croatia under the Grgic label) became a prime motivator in the Zin quest, directing the detectives to promisi ng sites in his native country. There were Plavac Mali vines in the UC Davis collection, and some appeared to be indistinguishable from Zinfandel. However, Meredith's tests during the late '9 0s gave mixed results. Knowing that mislabeling of vines in institutional collections is com mon, she decided to go to Croatia and collect samples herself. No sooner had she started planning a trip than she got an e-mail from Universi ty of Zagreb genetics professor Ivan Pejic asking for advice on a new project to study the indigenous grapes of Croatia. "That's when I said, 'I'm coming over there, so why don't w e work together?' " recalls Meredith. In spring of 1998 she traveled to Croatia and met Pejic and his colleague, vit iculturist Edi Maletic. With Piljac, Meredith's former lab student, they traveled through the Dalmatian Coast and islands, taking tissue samples from about 150 Plavac Mali vines in 4 0 vineyards. Back in her lab at UC Davis, Meredith ran the DNA tests. The results were disconcerting. Plavac Mali was not Zinfandel. However, it app eared that one was a parent of the other, although it wasn't clear which way the genes went. The game was still afoot. Meanwhile, Pejic and Maletic devoted themselves to walking vine rows in Dalmat ia, looking for Zin-like leaf shapes in the spring and Zin-like fruit in the fall. Finally , in September 2000, they found another likely suspect in a mixed planting of old varieties. It was a single specimen of an obscure old variety called Crljenak Kastelanski (meaning red gr ape from Kastel, a town near Split). Still lacking the funds for expensive DNA analysis , they sent tissues from the vine to Meredith for testing in her UC Davis lab. No dice. The vines didn't match, and at that point it looked as though the sea rch had hit a dead-end. Yet everyone agreed Crljenak really, really looked like Zin. So Pejic and Male tic went back to the vineyard--a six-hour trek by car from Zagreb to the coast--where they real ized that in the thick tangle of canes they had mistakenly taken tissue from the shoot tips of a neighboring vine. This time they made sure their sample was from the Crljenak vine before they sent it to California. Bingo. A perfect DNA match linked Crljenak, Zinfandel and Primitivo. On Dec. 1 8, 2001, she recalls, Meredith e-mailed Pejic, saying, "I'm convinced." Subsequent testing of samples from other vines provided a bonus revelation: Plavac Mali is an offspring of Crljen ak and another Croatian grape, Dobricic. Now that Crljenak has been rescued from its precarious position--literally on the brink of extinction--the next step is to look for more Crljenak vines. The variety was virtually wiped out by vine diseases in the 19th century, then further reduced during the Communist era when the native grapes were systematically replaced b y high-yielding varieties suitable for mass production. Widening the Pool The goal is to widen the pool of possible clonal material that can enrich the grape's diversity. Selections from Croatia will complement the Zinfandel Heritage Vineyard, a one -acre Napa Valley planting of Zinfandel selections taken from old vineyards throughout Ca lifornia by UC Davis clone specialist James Wolpert and his team. The ongoing search for Crljenak in Croatia, led by Pejic and Maletic, is being substantially funded by several California wine producers, led by Ridge Vineyards. The Croat ians are focusing on the large island of Solta, just off the Dalmatian Coast from Split . The vineyards on Solta include quite a bit of Dobricic, which makes it likely that Plavac Ma li's other parent, Crljenak, may be found there, too. "It makes sense that if they got together, they must have been growing fairly close together," notes Meredith. "So Solta is a strong pos sibility." Meanwhile, California producers have begun to propagate both Primitivo and Pla vac Mali and make wine from the grapes (try Tobin James Cellars Primitivo '99, "James Gang Reserve"). And Crljenak has been propagated at UC Davis. Cuttings will be available to gr owers within a year or so, which means we could begin to see California Crljenak wines as ear ly as 2006. And then we'll find out from a sensory standpoint if it's all just a matter of names. Will, in fact, a Zin by any other name smell as sweet? GRAPHIC: The Restless Grape; CREDIT: Source: Zinfandel Advocates and Producers , and Carole Meredith; PHOTO: The granddaddy of Zin: Crljenak Kastelanski, in the ol d country.; PHOTOGRAPHER: EDI MALETIC Rating California Zinfandel Vintages 1980-1998 VINTAGE SCORE DRINKABILITY 2001 91-93 Should be memorable 2000 84 mixed quality Drink 1999 89 solid, rich, ripe, high EtOH. 1998 83 1998 83 Tough, cool year; mostly lean, simple wines -- Drink 1997 90 Best were ripe and potent, though quality varied -- Drink or hold 1996 87 Variable quality; best are well-balanced -- Drink or hold 1995 95 Brilliant fruit; ripe, complex, intense, balanced -- Drink or hold 1994 96 Dark, rich, intense, complex; classy -- Drink or hold 1993 88 Fruity, complex, fine balance-- Drink or hold 1992 93 Very ripe, opulent and complex -- Drink or hold 1991 92 Ripe, elegant, complex -- Drink or hold 1990 93 Rich, complex and concentrated-- Drink or hold 1989 82 Huge crop; uneven quality, tannic -- Drink 1988 84 Uneven crop; forward-balanced wines-- Drink 1987 92 Bright, rich and complex --Drink 1986 91 Firm, intense, tannic yet age-worthy -- Drink 1985 93 Wonderful balance and harmony -- Drink 1984 88 Ripe, opulent and complex -- Drink 1983 79 Uneven quality, tannic, average -- Drink 1982 82 Tight and firm, but uneven quality -- Drink 1981 85 Ripe, fruity, early-drinking -- Drink 1980 82 Hot harvest; uneven quality -- Drink Vintage Ratings: 95-100, classic; 90-94, outstanding; 80-89, good to very good; 70-79, average; 60-69, below average; 50-59, poor. Drinkability: "Drink" means most of the wines of the vintage are ready to drink; "hold" means most of the age-worthy wines have not fully matured. Zinfandel http://www.winespectator.com/Wine/Spectator/Faqs/VarietalsFAQ.html ZINFANDEL (Red) [ZIHN-fan-dell] The origins of this tremendously versatile and popular grape are not known for certain, although it is thought to have come from Southern Italy as a cousin of Primitivo. It is the most widely planted red grape in California (though Australia has also played around with the grape). Much of it is vinified into white Zinfandel, a blush-colored, slightly sweet wine. Real Zinfandel, the red wine, is the quintessential California wine. It has been used for blending with other grapes, including Cabernet Sauvignon and Petite Sirah. It has been made in a claret style, with berry and cherry flavors, mild tannins and pretty oak shadings. It has been made into a full-bodied, ultraripe, intensely flavored and firmly tannic wine designed to age. And it has been made into late-harvest and Port-style wines that feature very ripe, raisiny flavors, alcohol above 15 percent and chewy tannins. Zinfandel's popularity among consumers fluctuates. In the 1990s Zinfandel is enjoying another groundswell of popularity, as winemakers took renewed interest, focusing on higher-quality vineyards in areas well suited to Zinfandel. Styles aimed more for the mainstream and less for extremes, emphasizing the grape's zesty, spicy pepper, raspberry, cherry, wild berry and plum flavors, and its complex range of tar, earth and leather notes. Zinfandel lends itself to blending. Zinfandel is a challenging grape to grow: its berry size varies significantly within a bunch, which leads to uneven ripening. Because of that, Zinfandel often needs to hang on the vine longer to ripen as many berries as possible. Closer attention to viticulture and an appreciation for older vines, which tend to produce smaller crops of uniformly higher quality, account for better balanced wines. --Excerpted from James Laube's book "California Wine," with some additions by James Molesworth -- ------------------------------ * * Dr. James Lee Ellingson, Adjunct Professor jellings(a)me.umn.edu * * University of Minnesota, tel: 651/645-0753 fax 651 XXX XXXX * * Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *