Skip to main content

Posts

Featured

Dear sommeliers: It's now okay to like Zinfandel

Typically small cluster of Zinfandel grown in old vine growths (in the Lodi appellation, vineyards planted between the 1880s and 1960s). This op is written from a sommelier's pespective. I know a lot of them because I was a sommelier, working in restaurants for over 28 years, and through one of my current affiliations (particularly The SOMM Journal ). And this I can say about sommeliers: Most of them hate Zinfandel. Or putting it more gently: Of all the popular varietal categories, Zinfandel is the one for which sommeliers have the hardest time drumming up enthusiasm. Sure, the cultivar has historic connotations as "America's" grape, even though we now know it originated in Croatia. It's historical because, in the 1800s, Californians found that it was the easiest of all grapes to grow in the state's Mediterranean climate, and produced the most consistently good wine. That's a terroir -based relationship, isn't it? Aren't sommeliers into terroir ?

Latest Posts

High on acid and real sense of purpose at 2019 World of Pinot Noir

Back burners

My photo
Randy Caparoso:
"I fought against the bottle," as Leonard Cohen wrote, "but I had to do it drunk." Randy Caparoso is a full-time wine journalist/photographer living in Lodi, California, and the author of "Lodi! The Definitive Guide and History of America's Largest Winegrowing Region" (2021). In another life, he was a multi-award winning restaurateur, starting as a sommelier in Honolulu (1978 through 1988), and then as Founding Partner/VP/Corporate Wine Director of the James Beard Award winning Roy’s family of restaurants (1988-2001), opening 28 locations from Hawaii to New York. Accolades include Santé’s first Wine & Spirits Professional of the Year (1998) and Restaurant Wine’s Wine Marketer of the Year (1992 and 1998). Between 2001 and 2006, he operated the Caparoso Wines label as a wine producer. For over 20 years, he also bylined a biweekly wine column for The Honolulu Advertiser (1981-2002). He currently puts bread (and wine) on the table as Editor-at-Large and the Bottom Line columnist for The SOMM Journal, and spend most of his time as freelance blogger and social media director for Lodi Winegrape Commission (lodiwine.com).