ZINPOSIUM 2002: A MAJOR EVENT
-Wilfred Wong

This article appeared in the Market Watch section of
'Vineyard & Winery Management' Magazine, September/October 2002
and is reprinted by permission

Photos Courtesy of Barry Jan, ZAP's official Zinposium photographer.

JUNE 15, 2002, SANTA ROSA, CA - Zinposium 2002, a magical tour of the wine world's most mysterious wine grape varietal, was staged to be an incredible event in which people of normal stature would transform themselves into zinfandel zealots with the most zinful of behaviors. Held in the heartland of America's wine country, ZAP Executive Director Rebecca Robinson confidently informed me that this was a very special, worthwhile event. Did I believe her? Well, this non-profit (501c3) organization had put on some superb events in the past, but as I remembered they had been so crowded I could barely hold onto my wine glass without getting bumped! Nonetheless, "Becky" had promised this would be a day memorable. I'd just have to wait and see.

Beginning at 8:30 AM, and dressed nicely in slacks and a smart-looking tie and a jacket, I was prepared to delve into the event with a strictly professional demeanor. Yet, something different was in the air. At first, I could not pin it down, but before I could get to the first seminar, I could feel a buzz in the air. This appeared to be the large number of zinners in the room. It was as if some mysterious master had beamed them to this place. Zen perhaps, no, Zin for sure! Wearing bright red ZAP caps, and ZAP t-shirts, these people had their ZAP bags in hand and ZAP glass around their necks; they were serious advocates on a mission! Maybe, I shouldn't have worn a tie? Let alone a jacket!

The event would last more than nine hours before most of the group retired to "The Pleasures of Zinfandel and Zydeco (Dinner and Dancing in the Moonlight)" at the Kendall-Jackson Wine center in the town of Fulton about 10 minutes to the north of Santa Rosa.

Speaking eloquently at the Opening General Session, ZAP's President Grady Wann, Ph.D., winemaker at Quivira Vineyards, hailed the event as "The first truly international zinfandel event." Wann also reminded the audience that ZAP exists to educate the public on zinfandel. The session continued with two very entertaining speakers, Bob Trinchero, Sutter Home Winery and Kent Rosenblum, Rosenblum Cellars. Trinchero recalled that their family's wine history had begun in 1947 when his Uncle John had purchased a broken down farm, Sutter Home in St. Helena.

As Bob slowly learned his craft, he would take over operations in the spring of 1960. Eventually, a fateful dinner in 1968 with Sacramento wine merchant Darrel Corti led him to Charlie Meyers and the beginnings of Amador County Zinfandel. Trinchero eventually hooked up with the Deaver family and he produced one of the most legendary zinfandels of all time-- the 1969 Deaver Ranch. Bob concluded by recounting the serendipity of the white zinfandel story and the "white stuff in 1973 that they didn't mow what to do with." An opportunistic Darrel Corti coyly said, "Why don't you bottle it up and I will buy one/two of it and call it Oeil de Perdrix (Eye of the Partridge)." BATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms) sent back the label and asked Bob to put the name of the wine in English, too. That was the dry, nearly colorless, version of the wine. As a wine merchant in San Francisco, I sold the first vintages of the delightfully dry Sutter Home White Zinfandel. In 1985, it all changed.

A stuck fermentation in 1975 caused the wine to become a "pink" white zinfandel. Bob removed Oeil de Perdrix from the label and changed the name to white zinfandel; Sutter Home produced 8,000 cases. In 1978, the wine became so popular that the winery had to buy juice to keep up with the demand. A decade later, the wine got up to 1.5 million cases and sold so fast that it became what Bob calls, "The first freeway aging of wine." There were so many trucks lined up on high- way 29 that the highway patrol began handing out tickets, so Bob offered "convoy discounts" to give the trucks a reason to move swiftly.

In the year 2000, Sutter Home shipped five million cases of white zinfandel. Bob concluded his segment with the comment, "While wine writers are (generally) unfriendly about white zinfandel, when I go home, I open up my white zinfandel and look at my financials."

In contrast to Trinchero, Kent Rosenblum, Rosenblum Cellars, makes his living on specific single vineyard zinfandels. Starting out with 400 cases in 1978, Rosenblum Cellars has grown into one of California's highest regarded producers of ultra-premium zinfandels. Rosenblum's outline of how zinfandel is affected by terroir was very enlightening and well received by the audience.

Still in the Opening General Session, came one of the most exciting presentations of the day! A team of historians and researchers including Charles Sullivan, wine historian and researcher, James Wolpert, Ph.D., UC Davis, Department of Viticulture and Enology, Carole Meredith, Ph.D., UC Davis, Department of Viticulture and Enology, and Ivan Pejic, Ph.D., Department of Plant Breeding, Genetics, and Biometrics, University of Zagreb, took zinfandel from its origins to where it is today. Outlining the varietal's history, these researchers presented a clear path that zinfandel, along with its sibling plavac mali, came from the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia and the parent grape, crljenak kastelanski, now almost in extinction following phylloxera in the latter years of the 20th century. The grape had also fallen out of fashion in the last 60 years, during communism, in favor of higher yielding varietals. Experimental plots managed by UC Davis are now being employed to propagate crljenak kastelanski. Who knows? Wemay see the other parent grape of zinfandel in another 20-30 years.

To complete the morning's work, Doug Beckett, from Peachy Canyon Winery, was on hand to moderate a panel including Mike Grgich, Grgich Hills Cellar, Gregory Perucci, Accademia dei Racemi, and Edi Maletic, Ph.D., Department of Viticulture & Enology, University of Zagreb. Presentations were made and wines were tasted to compare the differences between zinfandel and plavac mali. Zinfandel seemed richer and deeper but that may have been a result of lower yields and more California sunshine. The wines did not seem that similar, but the sample was too small; researchers have clearly documented their relationship as sibling grapes.

The rousing "Opening General Sessions" had set the tone for Zinposium 2002 and now it was time to make the decisions of which sessions to attend. Smaller breakout groups were held in smaller conference rooms. I attended the Sierra Foothills with Scott Harvey, Folie a Deux Winery and one of his growers, Chuck Bowman presenting the relationship between a winemaker and his grower. The Q and A portion was particularly helpful and liberally employed by the audience.

The final segment before the closing was titled, "Formal Tasting Sessions." I had to choose between "Old Vines/New Vines-A Comparative Tasting" or "One Vineyard, Many Vintners-The Monte Rosso Vineyard Story." I chose the former, but wanted to do both. Bob Biale, Robert Biale; Matt Cline, Cline Cellars; David Gates, Ridge Vineyards; and Carol Shelton; Carol Shelton Wines, proved to be a group of superb presenters of the topic. We tasted a pair of wines from each vintner-one from a young vine and the other from an older vine. They encouraged a lively Q and A and made the experience incredibly worthwhile.

Following those intense sessions was a superb cooling down fireside chat from three sage zin masters, Joel Peterson, Ravenswood; Paul Draper, Ridge Vineyards; and Jerry Seps, Storybook Mountain Vineyards. Each sitting on stage in their own oversize chair, the event took on a fatherly air as each vintner recalled personal antidotes of their zinfandel experiences throughout the years. Having known these three individuals personally, I enjoyed what they had to say and found their comments very well considered. This was a fitting way to end a day of tremendous learning and enjoyment. The event concluded with some kind of a gentle clinking of wine glasses accompanied with the sound of "Zinnnnnnnnn." I am not sure I am spelling this right; I am just going by how it sounded.