Zinfandel

California's adopted red; jammy, peppery, brambly.

Zinfandel is California's adopted heritage grape — DNA-confirmed identical to Italian Primitivo and Croatian Tribidrag. Old-vine Zinfandel plantings in Sonoma's Dry Creek Valley and the Sierra Foothills, some dating to the 1880s, produce concentrated, brambly, peppery reds with high alcohol (often 15%+). The grape ripens unevenly within a single cluster, mixing fresh and raisined berries. White Zinfandel — the off-dry pink wine that dominated 1980s American supermarket shelves — uses the same grape, saignéed off early.