Zin: A 'Pour' Choice?

So state Sen. Carole Migden wants to make zinfandel California's official state wine. She says zinfandel -- which like many other immigrants came from Europe around the time of the Gold Rush and flourished here -- tracks the human history of the Golden State.

But should this be our state wine? Do we need a state wine?

The answer on both counts, we believe, is no.

Zinfandel accounts for about 20 percent of all the red wine crushed in California, according to the 2005 crop report released last week by the California Department of Food and Agriculture, and about 12 percent of California's overall winegrape production. That puts it behind chardonnay (which accounts for nearly half of California's white wine grapes and about 20 percent of the state's overall crush) and cabernet sauvignon, and just a little ahead of merlot.

But zinfandel cannot be considered only a classy, full-bodied and peppery red wine grape. Far more of it is sold as the inexpensive and easy-drinking white zinfandel dismissed by wine sophisticates.

So do the people of California really need this grape -- used to make the French fries of the wine world as well as potatoes Lyonnaise -- to be the symbol of our fair state?

While there are plenty of good zins, California is still the land of the King and Queen -- cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay. This is particularly true in Napa Valley and some of the state's other premier wine regions.

Robert Mondavi is a native of Lodi, where there are fine old zinfandel vineyards. But it was here in the Napa Valley that he staked his claim, achieving great success with cab and "fume blanc." At the now-legendary Paris Tasting in 1976, it was a Napa cab and chardonnay that upset the French wine judges and made the world take notice of California wine.

Besides a vaunted place at backyard barbecues, what did zin ever win?

Furthermore, some point out that zinfandel has been coined "America's grape" or the "all-American grape." That is because it is the one popular varietal that is more-or-less born and bred in America, while other popular varieties such as cab, merlot and chardonnay will forever be associated with France.

So if California takes zinfandel on as our own grape, do we risk federal legislation trumping our interests, perhaps resulting in yet another states' rights battle before the U.S. Supreme Court?

Finally, while the good senator who represents that great winemaking region -- San Francisco and Marin County (full disclosure: Migden's district also includes part of Sonoma County) -- has proposed making zinfandel the state grape, she should perhaps toil in the vineyard of more meaningful legislation.

For example, the state is several billion dollars in debt and the public roads to many a zinfandel vineyard are in bad shape.

Why, in this place where so many types of wines are celebrated and made as well as anywhere else on earth, should we place one grape above the rest?

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