LOOKING AHEAD TO THE YEAR 2007

With 2007 just a few days away, I’m cleansing my palate and searching anew for the next great varietal of wines to reveal to an ever-expanding world of wine lovers.
Last year saw an exponential upward sweep of wine sales, new wineries, and wine shops, driven by a younger, more female consumer, wanting to know more about wines.

Although Zinfandel has been creeping up in sales and popularity, it still has some heavy lifting to do to be a force in the marketplace, but if I were placing a bet on the next leg up for Zinfandel, I would say it would be 2007.

Zinfandel is as close to California’s native grape as any. The governor considered a bill to place the grape in the revered spotlight as California’s own.

Heavy lobbying against this idea, especially from Cabernet Sauvignon worshippers, watered down the bill to a kind of pat on the back for Zinfandel.

Actually, the grape’s roots are in Croatia. Some say the Italian Primitivo grape, grown near Naples, is the origin of Zinfandel. Truth be known, the grape was brought to Croatia and southern Italy by the Greeks, then traveled to California in the early 1800’s. It’s a kick to think about how this grape has been around as a low-end product, but it introduced so many of us to wine through Italian Swiss Colony, Sutter, Blue Nun, Gallo, Paul Masson, Inglenook, Ripple, Boone’s Farm…all pretty much used the zinfandel grape as a base for their wines.

All the while, the serious but lesser known winemakers in the Sonoma area, were making great "Zin" and selling it without a brand, to the big names of the day.

Now Zinfandel is gaining lots of respect with the smaller vineyards branding their wines, and promoting their "old vine" zinfandel as the masters of the varietal. The Pedroncelli "Mother Clone" 2003 Zinfandel made my Top Ten Wine Tastings of 2006, revealed in last week’s column. From Cline to Seghesio, some 20 Napa-Sonoma vineyards rated high in Wine spectators’ recent tasting report.

2004 is the new release date for Zinfandel wines and are available in most wine shops now. They should be impressive with good structure, balance, and lush fruit flavor with a dash of pepper.

An early entry in 2007 is the Rodney Strong "Knotty Vines” 2004 Zinfandel for a suggested price of $20. The grapes come from 100 year old vines in the Russian River Valley of Sonoma. A heat spell in late August of the vintage prompted early harvesting, and after 18 months in oak, enhanced the spicy characteristics of this Zinfandel. This wine is sure to add to the increasing buzz about "California’s grape."

We asked for a comment or two about where we’re going in the wine world, from the wine shops in North County. Julie Jones of Vine to Glass in Oceanside thought that customers are really opening up to different wine varietals that they haven’t tried before. What’s flying off the shelves now are names like Old Vine Zinfandel, Argentina Malbec, and Spanish Cava. "They will pay a premium for a fine wine, especially a small boutique, low production winery," Julie said.

Over in San Marcos the recently opened North County Wine Company owner James Allyn sees many more red wine blends going out the door, and he’s high on wines from Spain, Chile and Australia in the $12. to $22. area, while high end blends seems to be focused on Napa, like Dominus and Caymus.

Tami Ridley of Friars Folly, also in San Marcos, says customers are more savvy about wines, ask a lot of questions, and are more younger and adventurous.
She sees lesser known varietals like Viognier rising to popularity and a big trend to South American wines. "The price is right," she said.

These are the new jewels that they can attract and retain customers with. Watch this column for many more surprise wines from the world of wine.

The Local Sip

The California Center of the Arts in Escondido is planning its first major wine dinner of the year between performances of the Bob Newhart Show the evening of Saturday January 13th. The popular nearby Belle Marie Winery, just north of Escondido, will present its Italian varietal wines to pair with a 5 course dinner. Cost is $55 for general admittance, $50 for Center members.
Contact the ticket office for details at 800-998-4253.

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Wine Styles in Encinitas kicks off its wine education class series starting Tuesday January 23rd from 6 to 8pm. Each of the four classes in the series will touch on a different dynamic of the world of wine with the first one featuring the history of wine and the winemaking process. Classes as a package go for $80 per person. Space is by reservation only. Call 760-633-0057.

Carlsbad resident Frank Mangio is a certified wine connoisseur. His column runs Sunday. Reach him at mangiompc@aol.com.

 

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