Zinfandel

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 medalathering 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.