David Darlington's Zin

Even though I can't smell much right now and haven't been drinking, I recently finished reading David Darlington's book Zin: The History and Mystery of Zinfandel, and, even though it is a little dated at this time (it was originally published in 1991 under the even sillier title Angels' Visits: An Inquiry into the Mystery of Zinfandel), it was a pretty fascinating read. And, dated or not, as I read it I noticed that items kept coming up in the news that reflected/involved things I had just read in the book, so these people and topics are are all still relevant.

The book starts out with Joel Peterson, Ravenswood and the 1984 vintage. Darlington has a fondness for Peterson that is evident throughout the book, Peterson escaping Darlington's sometimes critical commentary more than others. Darlington discusses a little about winemaking and the state of Zinfandel in California before turning his attention to early winegrowing in the state and the various theories as to how Zinfandel came to exist here. This section is sometimes dry, but has interesting tidbits about CA agriculture in general and details such things as the introduction of Helix aspersa to the state (the common garden snail that all gardeners in CA hate, and the same snail used for escargot) by a Frenchman who brought them here with his vine cuttings.

Darlington spends most of the book profiling wineries and people, interspersing those sections and tying them all up with a running commentary on his work at the time of writing the book (he was making wine, interviewing people, putting all the pieces of the puzzle together, if you will). Ridge, Ravenswood, Joseph Swan, Storybook Mountain, Nalle, and Sutter Home are profiled, as are people such as Darrell Corti, Paul Draper, Dave Bennion, Fritz Maytag, Joseph Swan, and Joel Peterson. I thought the history of Ridge was particularly interesting, and the book actually made me interested enough to see the Monte Bello site that I finally (after years and years of intending to) drove down to see the original Ridge tasting room, which is quite different in character from their Lytton Springs site. All in all, the book contains not only an interesting history of early California winemaking, but also a history of winemaking in California in the latter part of the 20th century. Some of the biographies are particularly fascinating, too (I was blown away by Paul Draper's background).

And as I was reading, I realized news items kept coming up that tied into the book. One night, on the train home, I was reading a section about Ridge where a guy named Leo McCloskey was working with Paul Draper on the chemistry of wine and winemaking. That night I read the article in the New York Times (written by Darlington) about Leo McCloskey and his present-day company, Enologix. A few nights later, I hit a section on Scott Harvey and the Grandpere Vineyard, and realized it was the same guy I had just read about in an article profiling him, his now ex-wife, the vineyard, and the legal issues swirling around them all, and that thirteen years later, things were very different for him. (I notice that the article has been updated with a ton of caveats since it was first published... that's how crazy the whole situation is).

Overall, it was a very interesting book and it filled in a lot of wine history for me. I came to appreciate Zinfandel more and even grudgingly thank the popularity of White Zinfandel for saving a lot of old Zinfandel vineyards from certain replanting. The book proved to me that even wine history repeats itself... in the early 1970's, late-harvest, high-alcohol, super extracted Zinfandels were all the rage for a short time before falling out of favor. And amusingly (unfortunately, if you don't like the style), tastes have been heading that way again, with the rise of winemakers like Helen Turley.

Right now I am reading a non-wine book, but next up is my belated (as opposed to everyone else who got a copy and read it already, or tried to) read of A Very Good Year: The Journey of a California Wine from Vine to Table by Mike Weiss.

Which begs the question.... why do all books about wine need subtitles? If you look at the non-textbook books on wine, a lot of them have them. They are not just called something like "Wine Book", they are called something like "Wine Book: A Book About Wine in Many Words". I guess wine writers are verbose.