Win a pair of tickets to the Grand Zinfandel Tasting from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Festival and Herbst Pavilions at Fort Mason (Marina Blvd. at Buchanan, San Francisco) by commenting at the end of this post about why you love Zinfandel, that quintessential California grape (it actually traces back to Croatia, but that's another story).
A couple of years ago, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill that named Zinfandel the state’s “historic wine.” As such, it would have shared official state symbol status with the California Redwood, the Golden Trout, the Grizzly Bear and the Dogface Butterfly. At that time, renowned producer Kent Rosenblum called Zinfandel the " heart and soul of California wine for over 150 years.”
Zinfandel, to me, will always stand as the drink of all my family celebrations in California. Every Easter, my extended family would get together up on the ranch in Glen Ellen and I would barbecue marinated lamb--in Zinfandel and herbs, of course--that would be served with the best California Zins the in-laws could muster. We would sit under the arbor, itself laden with grape vines while we sat around a massive Redwood slab table big enough for 30 and agreeably argued over the Rosenblum, Green & Red, Cline, or Ridge Zins that were poured liberally around the table.
ReplyDeleteMy in-laws were firefighters, and liked their wine and lamb big and bold, spicy and distinctive--this was no crowd for a Merlot, Cabernet or even a Syrah. God help the soul who brought a Pinot Noir.
So for me, whenever I feel the need to invoke a particularly California celebratory mood, I invariably uncork a Zin. Call it a Zin state of mind...
As the great Joel Peterson says, Zinfandels are great because they are not wimpy wines.
ReplyDeleteZAP me those tickets! I love the red tinted smiles of my friends after a night with a bold bottle of ZIN!
ReplyDeleteI nearly forgot the standard-bearer by which all other Zinfandels were measured during our Easter fete: Kenwood's Jack London Winery Sonoma Zinfandel. There was always a bottle or 4 of that on hand to use as a measuring stick to newer competitors because it was always a faithfully delicious choice, and quintessentially representative of Sonoma.
ReplyDeleteI was so excited to learn that there was a red Zinfandel...not just the pink stuff my mom drank in the 80s! So delicious and spicy.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the tickets, Janice- this was an incredible event! We didn't come close to sampling Zins from all of the 200+ wineries...but we did try!
ReplyDelete