In a region where Cabernet often holds reign, seven like-minded Zinfandel producers are banding together with a collective mission—to give the grape its due.
Zinfandel holds a unique place in the history of American winemaking, dating back to the 1820s with initial plantings in California during the Gold Rush. The grape has continued to dazzle and spice up lives ever since. Now, with the support of organizations like ZAP (Zinfandel Advocates and Producers) and the anointing (by ZAP) of November 19, 2010, as the first annual “Zinfandel Day,” the varietal is gaining well-deserved attention.
Only about 5 percent of Napa Valley’s vineyards are planted to Zinfandel, but that statistic didn’t deter Zin-loving wineries from forming the Napa Valley Zinfandel Trail in June 2009. Those who opt to hit “the trail” can download a roadmap that includes wineries pouring a range of Zinfandels, whose styles and tastes are as diverse as the settings and proprietors of this hand-plucked bunch. Each of these wineries runs a shoestring operation, where the owners are the winemakers, growers, sellers and tour guides; each one serving up its rendition of Zinfandel while paying homage to the Napa Valley of yesteryear. No quirky ripening patterns, tight clusters or propensity to rapid dehydration and sugar spikes will stop these trailblazers from sharing why Zinfandel is a challenge worth accepting.
S.E. Chase Cellars
Chase Cellars has roots that run back to the 18th century and gnarly old vines that clock in at 106 years old. Brother and sister owners Mike and Katie Simpson’s great, great grandmother, Sarah Esther Chase Bourn, with husband William Bowers Bourn, purchased the St. Helena estate in 1872. William perished in an accident in 1874, leaving Sarah to tend the property with son William. The family contracted with Charles Krug in 1888 to process their grapes. At this time, William worked to build a cooperative, which he named Greystone Cellars, to give the valley’s vineyard owners a facility to crush grapes. Phylloxera wiped out the family’s 60 acres of vineyards in the late 1890s, and Sarah oversaw its replanting just after the turn of the century. Eighteen acres of “replanted” Zinfandel are still thriving more than a century later (some of these grapes are used to produce the Chase Cellars Zinfandel).
Sarah’s youngest daughter, Maud, married William Alston Hayne and, as the vineyard passed down through generations, those acres came to be known as the Hayne Vineyard.
Jeff Blaum, operations manager and assistant winemaker, credits the vine roots, which dig down more than 35 feet, as the integral ingredient that yields one “mixed bag” of wine. “It’s a kaleidoscope of fruit—an earthy, fruity trail mix of a wine,” says Blaum, attributing that cornucopia effect to the terroir of the vineyard. “Napa Zinfandels are a more elegant, feminine style of winemaking. It’s also an expression of the vineyard and its vines,” he explains. “When you’re picking grapes from vines that run as deep as ours, you reach a level where a whole lot of flavors are going on.”
The words “Cab Country” come up more than once during our discussion. In fact, it was this very sentiment that became the catalyst for Blaum’s sister, Pam Simpson, to form the Napa Zinfandel Trail in 2009. “We wanted to give Zin lovers a way in which to find ‘their’ kind—to introduce visitors to a select handful of producers who are focused on Zinfandel,” Blaum explains. “We banded together to help raise awareness. We take pride in the varietal.”
From his view, this all spills directly into the Chase tasting room. “We’re a change of pace. We offer visitors a way to see a different Napa,” Blaum stops and then restarts with a smile: “We’re less stodgy than our Cab counterparts. We’re a come one, come all kind of place!”
Elyse Winery
“‘Renegade’ isn’t the right word, but we’ve all been lovers of the Zinfandel grape for a long time,” says Ray Coursen, owner of Elyse Winery, on his decision to join the Napa Zinfandel Trail. “There was a lot of Zin in the valley at one time, and we almost lost all of it. The saving grace was white Zin, because it kept the vines in. We were making it when people didn’t want it.” No popularity contest nor tough growing conditions will stop this wine lover from chasing his dream varietal.
“It’s such an amazing grape. We’ve watched [the Zinfandel varietal] change and have seen more and more people get interested in it,” says Coursen. “We’ll never make the money we would from Cabernets, but we all do it for the love of the grape.” And then there’s the versatility factor. “Zinfandel is an amazing food wine,” he continues. “In California, we like to barbecue, grill and smoke meat. Zinfandel has the ability to transcend all that cuisine while still remaining delicate.”
Like each of his counterparts, Coursen is a hands-on kind of guy. Whether he’s hauling grapes out of the vineyard or mowing the lawn, his is a love affair with even some of the not-so-glamorous aspects of winery ownership. “Mike Trotta is the winemaker. I oversee the vineyards and work with Mike a bit on the blending,” he says. “I do the vineyard end and most of the worrying too, but when you do something you really enjoy, it’s not like work.”
Coursen was a dairy farmer in New Jersey until, as he puts it, “I outgrew my need for milk.” His favorite times nowadays are in the vineyards. “You’re out at the break of day, and nobody’s there. Just walking the vineyard and tasting grapes. When they’re ready, you can smell it.” He shares why Zinfandel may well be the perfect fit for the times. “The younger generation—the millennials—are more experimental. They’re interested in trying different things,” says Coursen. “At Elyse, we’re always looking for nuances, be it by barrel and fermentation technique, or be it by grape.” There’s only one thing that makes him (just about) as excited as harvest: “More and more people are now finding the fun about Zinfandel that we already found.”
The Terraces at Quarry Vineyards
The opportunity to join the Zin Trail was a non-decision for the family-owned and operated Terraces at Quarry Vineyards. Timm Crull, winemaker and owner, along with wife Sharon, saw a chance for a perfect “pairing.”
“It’s a fantastic idea to say there are a handful of producers who focus on Zinfandel. Often times when visitors come to Napa, they’re more consumed by this Cabernet thing, and Zinfandel is lost,” says Crull. “It’s nice to have a roadmap as to where you can visit for the varietal.” During my travels, there are two words that crop up even more frequently than new vineyards in Napa: Cabernet Country. Crull is eager to challenge the catchphrase. “Zinfandel in Napa is hugely historic—much more so than Cabernet,” he says. “Back in the 1800s, you were more likely to see Zinfandel planted than Cabernet. Napa has several top Zin producers, yet we have this Cab-centric mentality. We [at Terraces] think it’s important to make Zinfandel, as a varietal, attractive to consumers.”
What started out as a weekend pastime in the 1980s turned into a full-time winemaking venture in 1993, when the Crull family purchased the 120-acre (25 plantable, to Zinfandel and Cabernet) Rutherford Quarry Vineyards property, which was renamed for its history as a working quarry. The first vine plantings date back to 1881. After the brief walk down memory lane, Crull is anxious to discuss what he deems the three critical ingredients for success in the wine business: growing grapes, making wine and selling. “Farming is key. One of the things I find most disturbing in Napa is the rise of the vineyard manager. People used to farm their own land. I feel that when you don’t, you lose some of that connection that’s so important,” says Crull. “I’m lucky I get to farm my own land and have a winemaker’s perspective, not just a grower’s.”
Crull, much like his counterpart trail members, isn’t afraid to address the inherent challenges rooted in the varietal. “It’s a difficult grape to grow. It flowers over a longer period of time, and has more variability in the cluster and thin skins.
“When you pick is very important,” he shares. “You do what you think is right and then the weather shifts. It can be disheartening. But the journey of ‘learning’ and ‘doing’ make it fun. If it wasn’t that way, we’d stop doing it.” His animated delivery further hints at the “fun” factor. “You can be a bit more wild with Zinfandel. There’s a vibrancy among the people who love Zinfandel.”
What’s refreshing, in speaking with each of the trail members, is a unique personality and approach that seems to favor hands-on, homespun methods in everything from the wines and vineyard management to the tasting room. “You come here, you meet the people doing it, and you see it being done,” says Crull.
Robert Biale Vineyards
Immigrants from Northern Italy, the Biale family began growing Zinfandel grapes in the Napa Valley in the 1930s with Old World traditions in tow. The allure of the varietal wasn’t a fluke, it was a nod to heritage. “Zinfandel is one of California’s oldest grapes. Starting in the 1960s with Paul Draper of Ridge, people were starting to go back to these older vineyards to see if they could make some interesting wines. We got into this because Aldo [one of four founding partners, who passed in December of 2009], was told by lots of people that the smart thing to do would be to replant to Chardonnay or something else,” says winemaker Steve Hall. “But Aldo respected what his father had built, and what he had built from the time he was a kid. He knew there was worth in having these grapes in the ground. We’re still growing Zin because there’s a passion for it. If there isn’t the passion behind it, it would be hard to justify the dollars and cents.”
Here’s a great story, shared by Hall: “The passion, for Aldo, began after his father tragically died in a quarry accident the day after Aldo’s 13th birthday. He and his mother, Christina, had to carry on the work on the family farm and vineyard. That first year on his own, after selling the grapes to the Wine Co-op and being paid less than his farming costs, Aldo decided he would get extra money by making some secret barrels of Zinfandel and selling them to friends of the family. When he was 14, with his uncle’s help, he made his first barrels of wine in the barn. His mom helped him clean gallon jugs and bottle up each barrel for sale. If you ordered a bottle of wine with the eggs Aldo delivered every Friday night after school, the code word was ‘gallina nera’ or ‘black chicken.’”
Many years later, on a trip to Italy, Bob Biale, partner and son to Aldo and Clementina Biale, witnessed small, Italian family wineries making wines from small parcels of land. That got him thinking: If all those little vineyard holdings bottling wine could somehow make it work, Aldo’s lifelong dream of a family winery might be manageable with help from friends and relatives. From there, a partnership formed between Aldo, Bob and friends Dave Pramuk (“a marketing genius,” says Hall) and original winemaker Al Perry.
Hall, who was at Jarvis Winery for 12 years before making the move to Biale, is enjoying his time with the varietal. “Once you leave the highly structured, luxury-oriented Napa Cabernet world, you get to actually breathe fresh air with Zinfandel. People are more relaxed,” says Hall.
This relaxed nature, however, doesn’t translate to cultivating the varietal. “It’s the hardest grape to grow, even harder than Pinot Noir, to get that little bit more thickness of skin, which gives that dimensional flavor and mouthfeel. It takes a lot of work out in the vineyard,” says Hall. “That’s Bob Biale’s genius. He’s grown up walking around these old vineyards. He can explain the process to get these old vines back to better health.”
Aldo’s wife and vineyard partner, Clementina, stitches old world traditions into the operation with a passion for cooking and handmade aprons, placemats and tablecloths, while Pramuk heads up marketing and, as Hall puts it, “Bob is the viticulture genius.”
The Biales’ perfect visitor experience lies here. “What we hope they understand is that we’re part winery, part preservation society, with these old vines,” Hall continues. “Zinfandel isn’t just one type of wine. There’s a range of flavors and textures these old vineyards produce.” The lively guests next to us seem to wholeheartedly agree on the “fruits” of the varietal.
Hendry Winery
The Hendrys’ roots in Napa Valley run deep with original vine plantings on the ranch dating back to the late 1800s. George Whiting Hendry and his wife, Margaret, purchased the Hendry Ranch in 1939, and son George replanted much of the vineyard between 1974 and 1975. A reputation for the grapes (sold first to Christian Brothers and later to Rosenblum, Opus One and Mondavi) blossomed and led to the first vintage of Hendry-label wine in 1992.
“We’ve always been doing something with Zinfandel,” says Mike Hendry, vineyard manager, who grew up working and playing summers on the family ranch. George Hendry, owner and winemaker (and Mike’s uncle), has tended grapevines on the property for his entire life, splitting time between winemaking and the design of cyclotron particle accelerators, which offer non-invasive diagnostic techniques for medical research. (Due to the unstable nature of farming, George’s parents urged him to maintain a “day job” to support the less fruitful years. Ever since his graduation from UC Berkeley, he’s done double duty as a winemaker and nuclear physicist.)
The current winery building was erected in 2000 and, much like in the early days on the ranch, the family prides itself on being vineyard-centric. “George’s tours are famous for getting people out in the vineyard and showing the farming side of what we do,” says Mike. “We feel it’s the most important part of the process.” The winery produces an average of 15,000 cases per year; 3,500 of which is Zinfandel. “Everything we produce, in terms of wine, we grow here,” says Mike. “Our focus has been on bottling different, clonal expressions of Zinfandel.”
Whether it’s a loop around the property with his hound or opening the day with a good walk around the vineyard, it’s all good in Mike’s view. “There’s a real sense of satisfaction,” he shares. “We own our own vineyard, do all our own farming, make all our wine from our own grapes—and have been at it in the same place since 1939.”
Tres Sabores
Julie Johnson is quick to entice us visitors into a friendly romp around the Tres Sabores property—after first checking to ensure our footwear will endure a tiptoe through the vineyards and a stop off at the sheep’s meadow and chicken coop. The grounds burst with not only grapevines but with a bounty of fruits, vegetables and livestock, each one feeding the other. “We try to keep the hummingbirds and bees here by planting trees like pomegranate, with flowers that attract beneficial insects and insectivores” says Johnson. The 120-year-old olive trees dance as hawks linger, all integral to the order of things. “The sheep and guinea hens are the mobile fertilization team in the vineyard. We use manure from their pens to layer in with all the green refuse from harvest and make a dynamite compost. The idea is that all the elements of the ranch works together,” she shares. Even golden retriever Moose plays a noteworthy role as head of public relations.
A fruitful experience at Frog’s Leap, which she co-founded in 1981, led to Johnson’s decision to take her vineyard (planted in 1972) from “blend” status to solo in 1999 when she established Tres Sabores. Like each of the wineries on the Zin Trail, it’s a family affair. Johnson credits her partner in life and winemaking mentor, Jon Engelskirger, for lending his technical know-how to the cause.
Johnson’s affinity for Zinfandel is evident in her animated storytelling. “In 1989, we offered a stand-alone barrel of our Rutherford Zinfandel at the Napa Valley Wine Auction, and a famous wine writer said to me, ‘This is really great, but Napa doesn’t really make Zinfandel,’” she shares. “Unfortunately, Napa Zinfandel is still a wine that some writers, local trade organizations and merchants neglect. As it makes up a significant portion of my front yard, it was only natural to give it a voice.” This is a cause, I learn, that each trail member has adopted as their own.
“I respect the wines of the group,” says Johnson. “We have a shared philosophy of the land. It was all very organic the way it [Napa Zin Trail] evolved.” While a passion for Zinfandel is tantamount, so are the challenges. “It ripens very unevenly. We can pick the same block five different times,” says Johnson. Yet as each producer discusses the difficulties, so too are they eager to talk about what makes the varietal worth the work. “Zinfandel takes on the whole idea of terroir in a beautiful way. We’ve done that in Rutherford with dry farming, organic farming and by working to sustain our older vines. The goal is to keep the whole ecosystem integrated and thriving,” says Johnson.
Much like Zinfandel’s “spicy” tendencies, so too is Johnson’s take on her wines. “The single-vineyard estate Zinfandel, that’s the jazz club. The blend, which has Zin at its heart and soul, that’s the salsa party.” Tres Sabores means “three flavors” in Spanish and stems from the sense that three tastes go into every glass of wine. “It’s the taste of the vine, the terroir and the spirit of the table,” explains Johnson. “The good taste in the glass, but also the good company and food. It’s much more than just the wine.”
Titus Vineyards
For Titus Vineyards, the roots of Zinfandel stretch back over 35 years. The St. Helena vineyard property was purchased in 1967 and today is comprised of 40 plantable acres, 10 allocated to Zinfandel. Three pours into our tasting, I’m able to coax Eric Titus, vineyards manager and partner, into divulging his “favorite.”
“My knee-jerk response is Zinfandel. As a grower, it’s the most interesting and exciting. These old, dry-farmed vines have more personality, all the way from the vineyard to the bottle.” Titus has always been aware of the unique nature of Zinfandel: “While other varietals look for conformity, Zinfandel is just the opposite,” he says. “Each year, we see a mix, spikes in sugar and more complexity. It’s very responsive to the year—the swings are greater.”
Eric, together with brother, winemaker and partner Phillip Titus, works to bring the blends together in the bottle. “There’s a good balance between us,” says Eric. “We’re both swimming in the same direction.”
All of the fruit is estate grown, which the brothers take great pride in. “We can control the cultivation practice. Wine being made in the vineyard is cliché, but true,” Eric shares, “especially when it comes down to the varietal. You want to be able to have familiarity of the block to optimize fruit quality. We get fruit integrity.”
Winery guests seem to relate to the “fruits” of integrity. “A lady stepped forward to talk about the Zinfandel,” Eric continues. “She says ‘satin, velvety sheets.’” Not your typical wine descriptor, but one sip confirms—the “sheets” fit.
The appeal for Titus to join the Zin Trail came down to a common mission, namely, “To help visitors discover something different. We’re all smaller, more old school Napa,” he says. “This group is a nod to the heritage of Napa.”
While each member of the Napa Zinfandel Trail is unique in their own right, one sentiment is not. As Elyse’s Ray Coursen puts it: “We all have this crazy love for Zinfandel.”
As do many others well beyond the “trail.”
