Talented winemaker Antoine Favero was kind enough to send his two newly released Zinfandels, both from Dry Creek Valley.

The 2007 Zinfandel from Smith Orchard Reserve

Near opaque purple, this wine has a nose of what I think of as a "purple perfume," along with some smoke, chocolate, mocha, super dark ripe fruit. On the palate the acidity is lively with flavors of brown sugar, fudge, chocolate, mocha, decadence!  Smith Orchard vineyard is perched at 2400 feet and grown on shallow, iron-rich mountain soils.
 

The 2007 Zinfandel from Warm Springs Ranch Reserve

Near opaque purple, this wine has a nose of caramelized plums, brown sugar, spice, and oak with a palate of rich ripe jammy black fruit along with red currant, licorice (red and black), vanilla bean, and more of the decadent chocolate and sugar found on the nose. Warm Springs ranch vineyard is located at 1700 elevation on the western mountains overlooking Dry Creek Valley. 

Both wines were made using wild yeast, and though one can discern the vineyard differences between them, the Mazzocco signature of rich, jammy fruit and a sumptuous expression of chocolate, fudge, and other luscious flavors are clear. Pair either with slow-braised beef.

Zinfandel is a grape with attitude! Meaning that as soon as you take a sip, it's so powerful you are automatically thinking you need  to pair it with food. Steak ... or any substantial protein such as roasted salmon or tuna, can do the trick.

I love Zinfandel for its rich, concentrated, very ripe flavors, and today (a fairly chill Manhattan night) I received two of the newest releases from Mazzocco. I invited a friend over with a very sensitive palate (I will call him the 'SuperTaster' from now on) to taste and and comment on the differences between the two wines, which are the same grape, the same producer, the same general region, but different vineyards.

So we are tasting the 2007 Zinfandel Maple, Dry Creek Valley ($40 retail) and the 2007 Zinfandel West Dry Creek ($32). The Maple vineyard is located on the Dry Creek Valley bench-land, with deep clay-loam that is rocky, well-drained, and moderately fertile. The West Dry Creek vineyard has unusually deep hillside topsoil consisting of alluvial and volcanic composite, which allows the vine a slow, even rate of maturity despite the warm southwestern exposure.

If you are just now getting into wine, it may seem strange that two wines from the same year, grape, region, and producer can be so different. They both sing "Zinfandel" yet the SuperTaster thought the complexity of the Maple vineyard to be the more expensive wine. And yes, Maple is bold, lush, exciting, and demanding. Yet I can see how the quieter yet still complex West Dry Creek can win fans.

... Zinfandel is California's 'signature' grape. Why? Possibly because this is where the Zinfandel grape finds its truest expression.

If you are new to the world of wine, it may be difficult to understand why 'terroir' - the speciffic weather and soil of a vineyard - is so important. The vines for this Zinfandel are grown on a mountain vineyard above Lake Hennessey on very steep hillsides and mountain soils. The lake provides the semblance of a 'maritime' environment while the mountain soils allow for more sunlight (depending on its aspect), drainage, and minerals.

This is a well-made Zinfandel with searing acidity, blue fruits (blueberries) and black fruits (skin of a ripe fig, skin of a ripe plum) that render it a fantastic food wine to pair with succulent, rich meats such as rare charred steak, pork, and for fish lovers, grilled salmon accompanied with roasted vegetables and roasted, salted new potatoes.

Want to be a winemaker? It sounds like a lot of fun, and of course, it can be. And to hear the rags to riches (well, not quite rags) story of how Joel Peterson, founding winemaker ofRavenswood, created an internationally famous brand is mesmerizing.

Joel was born in 1947 the son of a highly credentialed scientist parents. When Joel was four years old, his mother discovered food writer Elizabeth David, who wrote about the importance of drinking French wine with food (note the emphasis on the word French). From that point on, the Peterson family sent abroad for French wine, and by the age of ten, Joel was a member of the San Francisco Wine Sampling Club (organized and operated by his father).

After graduating from Oregon State University, Joel became a wine writer and consultant, then learned the skills of traditional winemaking from the late Joseph Swan, an outstanding craftsman of old California Zinfandel.

So if I tell you that Joel started Ravenswood with $4,000 – would you believe me? At the time, he had very little expectations of becoming famous or wealthy from his winery. He simply wanted to make a good wine from California’s “signature” varietal, Zinfandel. And to this day (his mother would approve) he prides himself on how European it is, compared to other American wines. By European I assume Joel to mean that the wine is elegant, well balanced, and no element (i.e. acid, tannin, alcohol) overwhelms any other.

Yet by its very definition, Zinfandel is a high alcohol wine. “Do you use reverse osmosis to lower the alcohol?” I ask, since this is a new common practice to lower the high alcohol of California wines. Joel is adamant against doing this, as to his mind, it destroys the integrity of the wine’s nature. And even though the alcohol is between 14 and 15 percent, it is in balance with the ripe fruit, acidity, and tannins.

Today in New York, I had the good fortune to taste through his wines, with grapes grown on many vineyards. Joel explains he likes to buy grapes rather than grow them because this is what the growers do best (and they also own the best land). First on the list was 2007 Dickerson Zinfandel, on the west side of the Napa Valley. This was one of Joel’s first vineyard contracts, and the fact they are doing business twenty years later says a great deal about Joe’s ethics. A very classic Zinfandel. Next is 2007 Big River Zinfandel, located between the Alexander and Russian River valleys. This Zinfandel is ripe and jammy with cassis, black olives, and raspberry. 2007 Belloni Zinfandel follows, and is a favorite with judges at the Orange County wine festival.

Barricia vineyard was created in 1888 and owned by several major historical figures in its colorful history dating to before the Mexican and Civil wars. The majority of Barricia is old vines, and the resulting wine is deeply perfumed with the characters of spice and cherry pie. Another single vineyard, Icon, is a blend of 36% Carignan, 27% Petite Sirah, 25% Zinfandel, and 12% mixed black grapes. The wine is dense and dark, aromatic with sweet scents of black cherries and plums tempered by hints of toast and vanilla. Teldeschi vineyard is made up of Zinfandel, Carignane, and Petite Sirah. The three varieties are fermented separately and blended to taste. The resulting wine is perfumed with scents of black raspberry, tobacco, and aromatic spices.

Old Hill is quite interesting from a taste and historical perspective. This Zinfandel has Rhone like intensity with aromas of blackberry, black pepper, vanilla, coffee, smoke, and mint. It had once been owned by the father of newspaper czar William Randolph Hearst, and in 1888 was the first vineyard to be planted with rootstocks in California. The last vineyard to taste is Pickberry, a Merlot Cab blend (74% Merlot, 26% Cabernet Sauvignon) with a palate of fresh plum, red currant, mint, and cured tobacco. It got its curious name from the children of its owner, an orthopedic surgeon, as the children always referred to it as the place to pick wild berries in summer.

A fabulous opportunity to taste the nuances between the many vineyards that comprise Ravenswood wines, and a chance to meet an exceptional man with so many colorful examples of founding winemakers who lived in the Napa Valley a century before his birth.

Summertime ….and the grilling is easy. So what’s for dinner tonight? A thick, juicy steak? Most people think “steak” and automatically reach for a California Cabernet. And if a Cab is your go-to wine for steak, you are on the right wine and food pairing track. Steak needs a a wine with enough acidity and tannin to cut through the fat, which typically means a higher acid, higher tannin red wine. You will also want a wine with enough body to match the texture of the steak as well as the charring method of its preparation. And finally, you may want to pick up some of the spice in the steak’s marinade in the wine. Red wine such as Cabernet or Merlot can be spicy, yet this coming weekend consider richer, more perfumed alternatives such as California Zinfandel, Peitt Verdot, or Petite Sirah

Recently Antoine Favero, winemaker at California’s Mazzocco winery in Healdsburg, California, sent me several new releases from Mazzocco’s many single vineyards in the Dry Creek and Alexander Valleys. Most of the vineyards are located in mountainous regions above the valley where old vines thrive into longevity and young vines show extraordinary promise – especially with steak!

Two of the newly released Zinfandels include the 2006 Dry Creek Valley from the Maple Vineyard, and the 2006 Dry Creek Valley from the Pony Vineyard. If you are new to wine, you may find it curious that the same grape from two neighboring vineyards can taste so different, though both are great partners with steak. The Pony Reserve is sumptuous, elegant, and highly perfumed, perhaps reflecting they way the grapes were grown on a terraced vineyard. With its lush aromatics and high acidity, this wine is a great pairing with a slightly fattier steak with a fruit-based marinade. In contrast, the Maple Reserve is much leaner, with more sharpness and finesse on the palate.

Beyond Zinfandel, some good wine pairing for steak can include Mazzocco’s 2005 Petite Sirah from the Aguilera vineyard in Dry Creek Valley, a very rich, elegant wine with big fruit, spice, vanilla, and wild berry flavors. Or try their 2005 Petit Verdot from Monterey County, with more rich fruit, violets, and toasted oak. These are lush, high-alcohol, richly perfumed wines. Petit Verdot, by the way, is one of the five grapes that make up the Bordeaux blend in France. It is used sparingly in both the right and left banks, accounting for a tiny fraction of the blend so you can imagine how rich and sumptuous it would be on its own as a single varietal.

Mazzocco wines, across the board, are powerful, vibrant, and almost royal in their purple power. Indeed, they are so assertive they almost seem to jump out of the glass, look down their figurative nose at the food they are being paired with, and demand an answer to the question: “who’s the star here, you or me?” And between you and I, they are quite right to do so. Though Mazzocco’s wines compliment a steak, in the end the wines have so much richness and personality the wine ends up being complimented by the steak.

Life is all about experimentation, so if you are a solid Cab or Merlot drinker with steak, at your next dinner party you might create a fun mini-tasting by paring the steak course with two wines simultaneously, a Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot, and a Zinfandel, Petit Verdot, or Petite Sirah and come to your own conclusions.

Cheers!