Life Style / Wine Grapes / Zinfandel: One of the few varieties to have an entire webpage devoted to it (ZAP Organisation). Currently regarded as an important grape variety, thought to be the variety advertized in the 1830's as the Zinfendal by a Long Island, NY. nursery (see ZAP Resource Guide) and possibly also called Black St. Peter in early 19th century California vineyard lore. Is widely grown in California and used to produce robust red wine as well as very popular 'blush wines' called 'white Zinfandel'. Cuttings from the oldest vines found in the Dry Creek and Amador regions of California are notable for their ability to produce superior juice: eg. the 'Bevill-Mazzoni' clone from the Dry Creek appellation was recently reported (7/2000) as yielding excellent results from cutting-propagated young vines. Zinfandel is noted for the fruit-laden, berry-like aroma and prickly taste characteristics in its red version and pleasant strawberry reminders when made into a 'blush' wine and the grape, under the alias name Little Black Joes, was once used for that purpose by immigrant italian home winemakers in the Finger Lakes region of New York, USA. While variety origins are not clear it has been positively identified, pinpointed via DNA analysis by Croatian researchers and confirmed (late 2001) at UC Davis (California), as being identical to the Crljenak variety (pronounced 'curl-yen-ik') of Croatia and in another Croation location as Pribidrab (the latter also historically known as the Tribidrag variety) indigenous to that country, a former province of Yugoslavia. The origin of the grapename 'Zinfandel' in California is currently thought by some to trace to a labeling name mistake involving Zierfandler, a completely unrelated white variety still grown in the Balkan region of Europe. It has been noted that mid-19th century catalogs mention a red (ie. 'roter') mutation of that variety. A plausible hypothesis is that an error arose due to attribution and shipping mistakes made during unreliable early-19th century transport and handling to New World destinations. In 1958 Dr. H. Olmo of U.Davis, California, released a cultivar named Calzin for public use that was designed to have better insect resistance (etc) than its Zinfandel parent.
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Lifestyle / Wine Grapes / Schuyler: Is a cross between Zinfandel and Ontario varieties. A heavy producer, it is early to mid-season ripening. Reported to be susceptible to Crown Gall infection. Severe pruning is needed to keep it from o MORE