Despite it now being discovered that Zinfandel is actually the Primitivo grape of southern Italy, like many of Hollywood‘s greatest stars, being an immigrant hasn‘t kept it from becoming a great national treasure. Brought to California originally on the back of the 1849 gold rush, it became a favourite miners‘ drink. Since then it has proven itself a great adaptor to the fickle American wine market; sweet and pressed quickly it makes the hugely successful ‘blush‘ style, or it can be painstakingly reared expressly for medal-gathering into titanic, alcoholic ‘cult‘ wines. Despite its versatility Zinfandel prefers warm open hillsides and is ideally suited to producing dry, satisfying reds which often share distinctive pruney, raisiny flavours.