White Zinfandel
Camp classic retrospective
Just the words “white Zinfandel” takes us straight back to cigarette-stain 80’s America: the reign of Thierry Mugler, MTV, and Ronald Reagan, who of course is in hell now. It brings back memories of awful roller rink carpeting and blob-shaped furniture; in the glass, a lurid fluorescent pink color with cough-syrup flavors and cloying fruit-punch sweetness on the finish. But like those A-line midi skirts and hot rollers, White Zin is coming back. No, not coming back. Like Thierry Mugler, really, it’s a camp classic that never did go out of style.
Before we get into White Zinfandel as a wine, a wine beverage, and a wine phenomenon, let’s shore up some background information. I initially wrote this entry as a brief overview and a quick mention of these topics…but the mentions grew into a few articles. One thing I love most in this world is excessive background information, so I’ve included it here!
A Brief History of White Zinfandel
So what’s the deal with White Zinfandel? The wine itself isn’t white, and a quick google search shows Zinfandel isn’t a white grape, but a dark red color. And it doesn’t really taste like the bold, spicy red Zinfandels we know. Is it even made from the same grape?
White Zinfandel was actually the result of a complete accident. Winemaker Bob Trinchero was descended from a family of Italian-American immigrants, who in 1948 purchased and refurbished what is now Sutter Home Winery, which had been shut down during Prohibition and abandoned by its original (also Italian) owners.
In 1972, Bob set about making a traditionally Swiss/Champenois style of rose with his red Zinfandel grapes, called Oeil de Perdrix (French, “partridge eye”) while also trying to create an even more concentrated, intense red Zinfandel wine.
For the Oeil de Perdrix he drained off some of the juice before the skin had finished steeping, to get a extra-dark batch of red wine and a byproduct pink wine. The US government required him to include something English on the label of his new byproduct wine before they would approve the byproduct pink wine for release, and the result of this demand was the moniker “White Zinfandel Wine,” which was originally sold as a dry wine.
Three years later, in the 1975 vintage of Sutter Home White Zinfandel, Bob found that the runoff rose wine simply would not ferment to dryness. For unknown reasons, the yeast in the batch simply stopped working to turn the sugars into alcohol, a phenomenon known as “stuck fermentation” in technical winemaking. Rather than selling off his “incomplete” wine to liquor distillers, or draining it and sticking to his extra robust red wine for that vintage, Bob decided to bottle the sweet, low-alcohol wine and sell it as-is, against the advice of basically everyone else in the wine market at the time.
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The resulting product was an absolute runaway success. Customers loved the light, refreshing, fruity flavor, and began looking for cases and cases of the stuff; demand quickly outstripped production. Sutter Home began producing White Zinfandel wine as a dedicated product (rather than as a byproduct of a more intense red wine). By 1987, Sutter Home White Zinfandel was the best selling wine in the United States—not the best selling rose, not the best selling Zinfandel, not the best selling wine under $20. No, it had become the best selling wine in the largest wine market in the world, period. What was originally a niche production of 220 cases of wine per year exploded to 17 million cases a year in 2009, an astronomical growth that most winemakers (and most businessmen, period) can only dream of.
Bob Trinchero, c. 1975
Echoing the success of Sutter Home, other winemakers and winegrowers jumped on the sweet rose bandwagon. They continued to farm the pre-Prohibition plots of Zinfandel vines for this new, trendy style of wine at a time when Zinfandel red wines weren’t as popular as they should have been. The popularity of white Zinfandel is what saved most of these historic vineyards, which otherwise would have likely been torn up to plant a more popular grape like Chardonnay or Cabernet Sauvignon. Today, these vineyards make some of the most prized red wines made in California today, with ancient vines more than a hundred years old, creating wines with velvety flavors with intensity and depth in the glass. These vines owe their survival to the popularity of White Zinfandel rose.
Ever since, White Zinfandel has been not only one of the most popular rose wines or one of the most popular sweet wines in America, it has been one of the best selling wines in the world, in any category. Its extreme, sudden, and enduring popularity has made it synonymous with rose wine to American drinkers; although sweet rose accomplished the incredibly important work of introducing new drinkers to wine, most consumers assumed that all rose wines were fruity and sweet. It took the tireless work of passionate wine professionals to championing and educating the American public on the existence and value of dry rose wines. It’s this evolution in the tastes of the wine market that built those beautiful walls of rose wines in every wine shop.
Like rose wines from every other red grape, Zinfandel rose wines can, in fact, be completely dry. Although the term “White Zinfandel” points towards a specific style of wine, or even a specific wine from a specific winery, there are amazing winemakers in the American west coast producing bone-dry, complex dry rose from the Zinfandel grape. These aren’t “byproduct” roses, nor are they the sweet juice found in gas stations; they are every bit the lovely, delicate rose wines that could pair with anything from a seafood dinner to porch gossip with friends.
Sweet White Zinfandel
tasting notes
Sweet white Zinfandel is a straightforward, easy-drinking wine with notes of strawberry-raspberry candy and ripe watermelon. Absolutely delicious in frose slushie or paired with dessert, it’s a standard style that won’t change from year to year.
One of the greatest pairings in the world is ice-cold sweet white Zinfandel with Chinese takeout; the sugary fruit of the wine helps with the spicy, salty notes in the food, and the sweet-tart acid cuts through the fatty richness. It really does regenerate the spirit, perfect for after a disaster Hinge date or a day full of soul-crushing presentations at an industry summit in yet another chain hotel/conference center.
Dry Zinfandel Rose
tasting notes
In contrast, dry white Zinfandel is a delicate, complex wine that, like many handcrafted, terroir-driven wines, will see huge variation from winery to winery. Many of them display notes of rose petal, pink lady apples, honeydew melon, fresh white cherries, and rhubarb. The more intense, darker wines can show notes of strawberries, pomegranate, and apricot.
Zinfandel rose is high in acid and beautifully well structured, making it an ideal pairing wine for any dish from salads to braised chicken. The darker versions are even robust enough for pairing with red meats, perfect for those avoiding red wine for any reason but wanting to have something with the backbone to stand up to a perfectly seared steak. Really, it’s harder to think of dishes that would clash with dry white Zinfandel!
Dry Zinfandel Rose
serving suggestions
In contrast, dry white Zinfandel is a delicate, complex wine that, like many handcrafted, terroir-driven wines, will see huge variation from winery to winery. Many of them display notes of rose petal, pink lady apples, honeydew melon, fresh white cherries, and rhubarb. The more intense, darker wines can show notes of strawberries, pomegranate, and apricot.
Zinfandel rose is high in acid and beautifully well structured, making it an ideal pairing wine for any dish from salads to braised chicken. The darker versions are even robust enough for pairing with red meats, perfect for those avoiding red wine for any reason but wanting to have something with the backbone to stand up to a perfectly seared steak. Really, it’s harder to think of dishes that would clash with dry white Zinfandel!