About 2 million people enjoy zinfandel on a frequent basis, and nearly one-fourth of them have at least four cases of the wine at home.

Those were among the findings of a research study conducted by Christian Miller of Full Glass Research on behalf of Zinfandel Advocates and Producers. Miller surveyed 602 producers, with 222 responses, and questioned nearly 1,400 consumers who represented core wine consumers, current and ex-ZAP members and people who attended last year’s ZAP festival.

Zinfandel drinkers mostly come from the West Coast, while they “are underrepresented in the northeast U.S.,” the study showed, indicating that area is fertile territory for growth.

Forty-five percent of the high frequency zin drinkers are willing to spend from $30 to $50 for a zin for a special occasion, while just 17 percent of the core wine drinkers are willing to spend that amount. Women were more willing than men to spend more than $20 for a bottle of zin.

Few drink white zin

Not surprisingly, there is very little overlap between drinkers of white zinfandel and fans of the red variety, and the study indicated that only a “tiny minority of high frequency zin drinkers or ZAP members drink white zinfandel at all.”

The selection of zinfandels in restaurants didn’t meet with much approval by the respondents. Sixty-three percent of core drinkers and 89 percent of ZAP members said they would like to see more and better zinfandels offered by the glass, and more than half of core drinkers and two-thirds of ZAP members were unhappy with the selections they see on restaurant wine lists. Zin seemed to pair best with barbecued or grilled foods, the survey showed.

Zinfandel is often thought of as having high alcohol, but the majority of the core wine drinkers didn’t see the wine that way, while 40 percent of ZAP members did. But all generally agreed that this was not a bad thing.

Many producers promote their old vine zinfandels and this apparently pays off — the majority of all groups agreed that old vines produce better quality wines.

For producers, making zinfandel is important — for most of them it represents 30 percent of their total sales. More than half of the producers who responded said they expect zin sales to increase by more than 5 percent this year, and a quarter of them expect sales to rise more than 10 percent.

Focus on quality

But zin producers aren’t as market-oriented as they are production-oriented. “They tend to focus on product quality and winery or appellation reputation rather than sales and marketing execution to sell their wines,” the report said. For most, direct sales are a key element in their marketing programs. They are, however, concerned about increasing out-of-state sales and getting more support for on-premise sales.

Most of those who make zin also make syrah and cabernet sauvignon, just over half also make chardonnay, and a little less than half produce merlot and petite sirah.

Seventy-two percent blend zin with another grape, with petite sirah the leading choice, but syrah, cabernet sauvignon and carignane also were mentioned.

The purpose of the survey, ZAP officials said, was to help producers in their sales plans, determining what they should communicate to consumers, help them decide what promotional activities to use and guide them in distribution decisions.