White Zinfandel

From EncycloWine

White Zinfandel, often abbreviated to White Zin, is an off–dry to sweet blush wine that is pink in color. White Zinfandel is made from the Zinfandel wine grape, which would otherwise produce a bold and spicy red wine. As such, it is not a grape variety but a method of processing Zinfandel grapes used in California.

Typically an inexpensive jug wine, White Zinfandel is a quaffing wine that is sweet, low in alcohol, and soft; making it a popular choice with those who would not otherwise drink wine. Depending on the amount of sugar it contains, White Zinfandel can taste almost like a fruit punch, although some examples have crisp acids and are balanced in their own way. It is rare when a White Zinfandel is not manufactured with the intention of immediate consumption.

In the 1970s Sutter Home Winery was a producer of premium Zinfandel in the Napa Valley. One technique they utilized to increase concentration in their wines was to bleed off some of the grape juice prior to fermentation to increase the impact of compounds in the skins on the remaining wine. The excess juice was separately fermented into a dry, almost white wine that Sutter Home called "White Zinfandel".

In 1975, Sutter Home's White Zinfandel experienced a "stuck fermentation", a problem that occurs when the yeast dies out before consuming all of the sugar. This problem juice was set aside. Some weeks later the winemaker tasted it, and preferred this accidental result, which was a sweet pink wine. This is the style that become popular and today is known as White Zinfandel. Sutter Home realized they could sell far more White Zinfandel than anything they had produced to date, and gradually became a successful producer of inexpensive wines. However, the demand for White Zinfandel resulted in extended commercial viability of old vine Zinfandel vineyards, which saved them from being ripped out. When the fine wine boom started in the 1980s, demand for red Zinfandel picked up considerably and these vineyards became prized for the low yields from the sometimes century–old vines.

Rather than use the leftover juice from premium Zinfandel production, Sutter Home (and most producers today) grow grapes specifically for use in White Zinfandel in places like the Central Valley of California. Production costs are substantially lower and fruit quality is not as important to the final taste as it would be in a dry table wine. Ironically, in the 1990s the Trinchero family, owners of Sutter Home, began production of a new brand of fine wines, Trinchero Winery.

Notable Producers

• Sutter Home is the first and remains one of the most popular producers of White Zinfandels. Shipping over four million cases of the veriety, its White Zinfandel is a sweet, pink wine.

• Beringer Vineyards produces one of the most popular White Zinfandels on the market. The vineyard recently released a new "Sparkling White Zinfandel" to commemorate its 20th anniversary as a White Zinfandel producer.

• Barefoot Cellars, a Sonoma County winery, began producing another popular and affordable nonvintage White Zinfandel in 1993. This offering has a good balance between zest and sugar, while their Barefoot on the Beach White Zinfandel, first released in 1999, has a more fruity flavor than most.

• DeLoach Vineyards is noted for a White Zinfandel that is drier, more complex, and more expensive than most.