Zinfandel grown in some parts of Amador County is better than Zinfandel grown elsewhere in California.” (Leon Adams, The Wines of America)

“Zinfandel in parts of Sonoma County does exceptionally
well.” (Stephen Brook, The Wines of California)

Are Sonoma Zins actually better than Amador’s these days? To get an answer, our picky panel tasted a number of each and here are the nine best.

Our nine nifty Zinfandels 

Rated very good:

9th: (Amador) Story Winery Picnic Hill Vineyard Amador County Zinfandel 2004, $34 

8th: (Sonoma) Harvest Moon Russian River Valley Zinfandel 2004, $32 

7th: (Amador) Sobon Estate Shenandoah Valley Zinfandel 2002, $20 

6th: (Amador) Sobon Estate Shenandoah Valley Zinfandel 2004, $20 

5th: (Sonoma) Rodney Strong Vineyards Sonoma County Estate Knotty Vines Zinfandel 2004, $20 

Scored above 90.0:

4th: (Amador) Deaver Vineyards Amador County Ten Zin 2004, $28

3rd: (Sonoma) Kenwood Vineyards Sonoma County Zinfandel 2005, $25

2nd: (Sonoma) Gary Farrell Vineyards Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel 2004, $36

1st: (Amador) Sobon Estate Rocky Top Vineyards Amador County Zinfandel 2004, $18

Conclusion

Sonoma is mighty close, with two of the four wines that were over 90.0, and four of the nine best bottles … both counties are tops.

  The Persian version of how winemaking was discovered

We have found these three versions of the Persian discovery.

• Omar Khayyam (A.D. 1048 -1131): A bird brought strange seeds to the mighty King Shariman whose men discovered there was no greater blessing on earth than the juice from its fruit after it “boiled without heating” (fermentation by wild yeast).

• Aristotle (384-322 B.C.): Jamshid, the ancient king of Persia, sees a vine with ripened fruits while hunting. Thinking them poisonous, he keeps them in a jar and later ordered a criminal to be executed by drinking the juice. Instead of dying, the man became full of joy. So the king tried it, also became happy, and “ordered to plant the vine everywhere.”

• Sir John Malcolm (1769-1833): was the minister to Persia and wrote a history of that country including a tale similar to Aristotle’s. King “Jemsheed ‘s” poisonous juice is consumed by a despondent member of his harem whose morale improved so much she drank it all. The king tried it and was so impressed that to this day, it is known as “zehere-e-khoosh,” the delightful poison.

 From mead to Merlot

• c. 1000 B.C. – India's first intoxicating drink was made from fermented honey with rice and called “sura.” Later, the British named fermented honey “mead.”

• 1984 – India's upscale Chateau Indage plants top varietals including Merlot (Oxford Companion to Wine).

• 2007 – India’s total wine consumption is over 600,000 cases. Napa Valley's Cakebread Cellars Sauvignon Blanc sells for $100 at restaurants. (New York Times). 

So, there are a few milestones in the budding wine industry of India. But here is the latest from a true insider, a retired professor of horticulture from Punjab Agricultural University, Dr. B. S. Dhillon, who regularly visits his son in San Francisco:

• The government is assisting in the development of vineyards and wineries.

• University of California, Davis is helping by selecting varietals to plant

• The new varietals include the Black Muscat (Quady Winery in California’s central valley makes fine Muscats … maybe they can outsource?)

• Professor Dhillon's favorite varietal? We poured a spectrum, and his choice was … Merlot!

Is your wine IQ at the shallow end of the gene pool? Then enroll in our Fort  wine school

Study and taste 20 wines in each Fort Mason Saturday class at 1 p.m. You may take a single class or several, but all fill up quickly, so to enroll or wait-list, call S.F. City
College at 415-561-1840 or visit www.
ccsf.edu/Services/Continuing_
Education/.

• February 9: Wine Basics (class full)

• March 8: Taste the Terms – Study 20 wines that illustrate “finesse,” “fat,” and other wine terms

• March 17: Sonoma vs. Napa – A careful comparison of Napa wines with their Sonoma counterparts – are Sonoma Chardonnays superior?

• April 14: France and Italy vs. California – Past sessions have included $30 Chardonnays and $50 to $75 Cabs.

 What a difference a grape makes 

The grape was Cabernet Sauvignon and here’s the difference it made to Napa Valley.

• 1940 – Napa Valley's most valuable agricultural product was prunes! There were less than 400 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon.

• 1976 – A Paris wine merchant, Steve Spurrier, staged a widely publicized tasting in which a Napa Cab was judged better than France’s best.

• 2006 – Propelled by such recognition, today Napa Valley Cab acreage is not 400, but about 18,000 acres with a production of over two million cases a year. With their Cab in the lead, Napa’s wine activities are said to be worth over $9 billion annually. 

Postscript – In September 1967, my wife and I were surprised to find in Paris an excellent wine shop by an Englishman who became famous nine years later – it was Steve Spurrier!

 And a final wine smile

In 1910, a California vintner delivers wine to retailers by a horse-drawn cart. His horse has a problem, so he talks to a veterinarian.

“Doc, my horse is fine for awhile, then he limps for several weeks. What should I do?”

The vet: “The next time the horse is not limping, sell it!” 

Fred McMillin was voted one of the best wine writers in the United States by the Academy of Wine Communications. Phone him with questions at 415-563-5712.