San Fransico's ZAP Festival

Last January the Zinfandel Advocates & Producers (ZAP) presented its 16th annual public tasting of California Zinfandel wines at the Herbs and Festival Pavilions on the piers of Fort Mason, San Francisco. Over 9,000 people attended and 273 wineries presented their latest wines. An estimated 550 Zinfandel wines were available to taste. More than 1,500 pounds of international cheeses and 8,000 half-loaves of French baguettes were consumed in the course of the three hour public tasting.

The Festival demonstrated the uniqueness of the Zinfandel grape. It thrives in so many different California growing regions and is used to make wines of many different styles: white, red, dry, sweet, low alcohol, high alcohol. While most of the wines offered for tasting represented the mainstream part of the spectrum, averaging around 15% alcohol, lighter, elegantly styled examples were found as well. At the extreme end of the spectrum, dry Zinfandels topping 17% alcohol could be found. And a dizzying array of Late Harvest Zinfandels and Zinfandel Ports.

Lovers of Zinfandel come to the Festival each year to follow the evolution of style in this remarkable varietal. In recent years we've seen a notable trend towards letting the grapes ripen beyond their sugar maturity, allowing flavors to continue to develop. This is the main reason for the steady rise in alcohol level that we've observed.

The ZAP Festival is the only place where wine lovers can taste wines made from ZAP's Heritage Vineyard, located at the UC Davis Oakville Research Station in Napa Valley, California. The Heritage Vineyard brings together scientists, farmers, and winemakers with a purpose of uncovering some of the mysteries surrounding the Zinfandel varietal and preserving the special qualities of old Zinfandel vines for future generations. Each year a leading Zinfandel winemaker is chosen to produce a wine from this vineyard. Past Heritage winemakers have included Kent Rosenblum (Rosenblum), Paul Draper (Ridge), Ehren Jordan (Turley), Joel Peterson (Ravenswood), and Rod Bergland (Joseph Swan).

This past year four examples of the Heritage Zinfandels were available for tasting. We found a remarkable difference in style despite the fact that all the wines were made from fruit of the same vineyard. The Heritage Zinfandels showcase the individual styles of the selected winemakers. A 15 liter bottle of this year's Heritage Zinfandel was auctioned off.

In addition to the public tasting, additional Zinfandel events were presented over the three days preceding. These included seminars on Zinfandel and food pairing and dinners with the winemakers.

The annual ZAP Festival public tasting is thought to be the largest single-day wine event in the world and one we heartily recommend. And San Francisco makes a wonderful January destination for those not blessed to live there.

More information can be found on the ZAP Website.

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