Hello friends and wine lovers!

For this newsletter and Friday Flight announcement I have for you a correction. I had stated that the Willamette Valley and the Burgundy region of France were lying on the 56th Parallel. I was a bit hasty in this, as I did not have my globe handy. I had suspected I was wrong and a friend pointed out that those regions are actually on the 45th Parallel. Sorry. My bad. What IS on the 56th Parallel is Fort Saint John in British Columbia, Glasgow in Scotland, and Moscow in Russia. As far as I know, there aren’t any Pinot Noirs of any significance that come from those regions.

On to this Friday’s topic: Zinfandel! A gnarly and strong varietal, and one the key wines of California (41st Parallel in the North to the 32nd Parallel in the South). In the books on wine that I have, there seems to be some speculation as to the origins. More to the point, people are a bit wishy-washy on whether or not the Zinfandel grape is actually the Primitivo grape of the Puglia region of Italy (40th Parallel). Some say it “has been identified” as the Primitivo, and some say “believed to be”. Scientifically speaking, that’s awfully vague. For argument’s sake, I have included one Primitivo in this Zin tasting. To my chagrin, it reads “Zinfandel” on the label, no doubt to avoid confusing the American market. In keeping with my Around the World theme, I’m featuring wines from all the regions (that I could find) that grow Zinfandel. Oregon (45th Parallel in the North to the 42nd Parallel in the South), California and Italy.

Tomorrow, Friday the 26th of September, from 4:30-9:00,
I will be pouring for you and all of your friends (hint, hint):

La Corte 2001 Anfora Zinfandel (Primitivo), Puglia, Italy
Ravenswood 1999 Zinfandel, Mendocino, California
Steele  1999 Zinfandel, Mendocino, California
Nalle 2000 Zinfandel, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma, California
Green & Red 2001 Chiles Valley Zinfandel, Napa, California

And the Extra 2:
Seghesio 2001 Home Ranch Zinfandel, Alexander Valley, Sonoma, California
Sineann 2000 Zinfandel, The Pines Vineyard, Columbia Valley, OR

Quite a bargain at $10 for the first 5, and $6 for the Extra 2.

I’m really excited about this one. It should be the best one yet.
(I know I said that last week. . .but I mean it even more this week!)
Feel free to bring crackers and cheese. Bread will be available.

Hope to see you here!
Seize the Wine!
M

Next week is Spanish Reds!