Dear sommeliers: It's now okay to like Zinfandel
Typically small cluster of Zinfandel grown in old vine growths (in the Lodi appellation, vineyards planted between the 1880s and 1960s). This op is written from a sommelier's pespective. I know a lot of them because I was a sommelier, working in restaurants for over 28 years, and through one of my current affiliations (particularly The SOMM Journal ). And this I can say about sommeliers: Most of them hate Zinfandel. Or putting it more gently: Of all the popular varietal categories, Zinfandel is the one for which sommeliers have the hardest time drumming up enthusiasm. Sure, the cultivar has historic connotations as "America's" grape, even though we now know it originated in Croatia. It's historical because, in the 1800s, Californians found that it was the easiest of all grapes to grow in the state's Mediterranean climate, and produced the most consistently good wine. That's a terroir -based relationship, isn't it? Aren't sommeliers into terroir ?