| You're just learning about wine and you are | | | | grandpappy, not something you come across |
| wondering "Is older wine really better?" because | | | | every day in the realm of White Zin. It came with |
| that is the perception that gets the most publicity. | | | | a disclaimer " I don't know if this is any good but I |
| You'll find it written that the answer to your | | | | know you are into wine. It's kinda old, but isn't |
| question is that it depends upon the intention of | | | | that good for a wine?" and some detail about |
| the winemaker. The writer will go on to tell you | | | | how it came to be that ripe old age. Basically it |
| that wine can be made in such a way as to | | | | came to him at a party in his home, didn't get |
| improve with age or it can be made with the | | | | drunk and went promptly into a never-used |
| expectation that it will have been drunk within a | | | | cupboard and stayed there undisturbed. Deep |
| couple of years time or suffer a rapid decline. | | | | cleaning time finally arrived at the household and it |
| There is much truth to this conventional wisdom. | | | | was dug back up. I took it, mostly to be an |
| But I'm not here to jump on that bandwagon and | | | | appreciative friend, but expecting to store it in my |
| tell you that line all over again. One bottle. I'll tell | | | | septic tank via dumping it down the drain. |
| you about it and you can let the story age in | | | | I arrived home that day and opened the bottle, |
| your mind or you can drink it in now and forget | | | | perhaps only curious to smell the aroma of |
| about it. | | | | vinegar prior to disposal. But my disappointment |
| White Zinfandel is an accidental star on the | | | | at the lack of a bad odor was soon replaced by |
| American wine scene. It is kind of a teething ring | | | | my astonishment at a very inviting nose (fancy |
| for baby wine drinkers. The style is typically | | | | for smell). The glass was soon out next to the |
| sweet and fruity while still having the features of | | | | bottle and the Zin was soon in the glass. Now I |
| "real" wine, not a cool-aid or juice with alcohol | | | | was paying attention. White Zin, as I mentioned is |
| added concoction masquerading as wine. For | | | | supposed to be pink like fresh salmon, not brown. |
| many who aren't ready for the experience of | | | | Something made to be pretty pink that is now |
| appreciating a more "mature" style of wine it is a | | | | brown is surely a bad sign so noted it that way |
| transitional one to help them get over the hump. | | | | on my mental expectation list. Set up for |
| White Zin is made from a red grape, a dark red | | | | disappointment again. The glass operated as a lens |
| grape that, in classic California fashion, came from | | | | to magnify a brilliant golden brown hue that |
| someplace else and decided to put down roots | | | | sparkled like the diamond on an engagement ring, |
| and claim to be a native. Zinfandel can be a beast | | | | mesmerizing. When I snapped back to the |
| of a wine on its own, dark and rustic with lots of | | | | present I had to taste it A.S.A.P, stat or |
| cotton-mouth inducing tannin. In an attempt to | | | | whatever says NOW! Holy Crap! Amazing. I really |
| make money and as an experiment, White Zin, | | | | enjoy the taste of anise (black licorice) in a wine |
| which is actually pink in color, was born at a | | | | and this had it like I've never before and never |
| California winery in the '70s. I'll save the detailed | | | | since found in anything other than black licorice, |
| story for another time but suffice it to say the | | | | only better. This was a bottle of magic potion! |
| taste buds of the American public was ready for | | | | Had the wine never been opened or had it been |
| this wine and it was a big hit. A big hit for | | | | poured down the kitchen sink drain as wine |
| consuming right away, that is, not for "laying | | | | wisdom would suggest, I'd have missed out big |
| down" as those with a cellar and a stiff upper lip | | | | time. I've had supposed-to-be-that-old ten year |
| would say. | | | | old wine and never been as impressed as I was |
| I was given a bottle of White Zin by a friend who | | | | with this misfit rule-breaker. Other than learning |
| was not a wine-drinker. It was an ordinary, name | | | | that even White Zinfandel can become magical |
| brand, off the supermarket shelf, probably about | | | | over time under the right conditions, I take one |
| $4 bottle of wine. Ordinary it wasn't, however, in | | | | thought away from the experience and share it |
| one major feature. The bottle was over ten | | | | with you: Open bottle, open mind. |
| years old. This is like having a 100 year old | | | | |