THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 5, 1994 TAG: 9406020052
SECTION: FLAVOR PAGE: F3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: JIM RAPER
DATELINE: 940605 LENGTH: Medium
For someone who has a passion for the zinfandel grape, however, this dusty and unrefined territory is close to heaven.
{REST} On my first visit to northern California wine country, I insisted on a side trip to Amador, which made me less than popular with my traveling companions.
They wanted to sip chardonnay and cabernet in Napa. I wanted to wander through Amador's old-vine zinfandel vineyards, to bow and feel the coarse soil.
We reached a compromise, and spent an afternoon in Amador. I visited one winery, Montevina, which has a handsome, modern facility near Plymouth.
Walking through the Montevina vineyards, reminded me of hot and hilly viniculture zones in Provence. But perhaps my love of zinfandel made me too dreamy; my companions saw nothing of Provence in Amador.
Nevertheless, I had paid my respects to the county and to the intensely flavored zinfandel grapes that grow there.
In recent months, I've thought of the Amador scenery when I've tasted the outstanding red zins produced in California, from the 1990 and 1991 vintages. Some of the best were of the Amador appellation, and I suspect others had Amador juice in the blend.
For years, wineries elsewhere in California used Sierra foothills juice to beef up their red zins. (El Dorado and Calaveras counties are also appellations of the foothills.)
The Humble Steward has recommended red zins in numerous columns.I praise them yet again. These robust and flavorful wines - they range in styles from light and fruity to huge and port-like - are the best-value reds produced in the United States.
Their popularity and their prices have begun to creep up, but they aren't yet trendy. The trendy zins remain the blushes, the slightly sweet rose wines that show little of the zinfandel's varietal character.
Zinfandel vines probably originated in Europe, but because the grape's history is shrouded and debated it is the only noble variety our country can claim as its own.
I prefer red zins with potency, a style to which Amador fruit is well suited. Most of the briary, high-alcohol zins are drinkable while young and get better with age. While age-worthy cabernets and pinot noirs cost $30 or more, long-lasting zins at your retailers sell for less than $15.
A couple of years ago, I bought a mixed case of older red zins at an off-the-beaten-path wine shop. Among them were three bottles of Monterey Peninsula Winery 1978 Zinfandel, for which I paid $9.75 a bottle.
I've drunk two of the bottles and the wine offered a mouthful of raisin and spice. The grapes came from the Ferrero Ranch in Amador County, not Monterey.
In that same collection were two bottles of Sutter Home Winery 1984 Zinfandel Reserve, which cost $9.59 a bottle. I've opened one of those, and it was a treat. This wine, too, was made from Amador County fruit.
Sutter Home is the Napa County-based company that pioneered the white zinfandel blush wine, and it makes a simple red zinfandel that sells for about $6. But Sutter Home also recognized as early as the late 1960s that Amador County could produce a distinctive zin. Anyone who thinks Sutter Home produces only humble wines should taste the spicy and smooth 1984 Reserve or the recently released 1990 Zinfandel Reserve Amador County ($13).
I regret that I was not collecting red zins when the 1978s or 1984s were released. I'd love to have more of them put away. But we can make amends by stocking up on the 1990s and 1991s.
A sound first purchase would be a case of the Sutter Home 1990 Reserve. It has generous blackberry fruit and is rich without being thick. But try to save this wine for a while; it's rough edges should disappear after a few more years in the bottle.
A simpler wine, but still warmly spicy and long on the finish, is the Montevina 1990 Zinfandel Amador County ($7). Also look for the Karly 1990 Zinfandel Amador County Pokerville ($9). Both are terrific picnic wines, able to stand tall even against the vinegar in barbecue sauces.
Zins from lusher parts of California get high marks, as well, for taste and value. Try the Ridge 1991 Sonoma County ($11) or Ridge 1991 Lytton Springs ($18); Rosenblum 1991 Sonoma County ($12) or Rosenblum 1991 Contra Costa County ($11); and Foppiano 1991 Dry Creek Valley ($12).
by CNB