zinfandel

This year's ZAP Festival sponsored by Zinfandel Advocates and Producers (ZAP) celebrates 20 years of "inspiration." The annual festival takes place each winter in San Francisco. This year's ZAP festival takes place from January 27-29th.

This year's festivities include rising cooking star Nadia G who has a show, Bitchin' Kitchen on the new Cooking Channel. Nadia G kick off the festivities at Good Eats and Zinfandel Pairing on January 27th at 6:00 p.m., doing a demo in The Zin Kitchen, where she'll cook up a storm in cherry-red stilettos. On January 28th, she'll take part in the Evening with the Winemakers, and on January 29th, she'll cut the ribbon and blog live at the Grand Zinfandel Tasting event beginning at 2:00 p.m.

The ZAP 20th Annual Festival presents four events in three days with around 250 wineries showcasing Zinfandel, America's Heritage Wines. Producers pour their barrel samples and new releases during educational seminars, culinary demonstrations and food pairings culminating in the Grand Tasting at Fort Mason Center, San Francisco. Tickets are $70 for non-ZAP members and include your ZAP wine tasting glass (and a much-needed mini loaf of bread). Then get ready for all the Zin you can handle. More details about this fun and festive event are available at the ZAP website.

Zinfandel, California's heritage grape, gets its own celebration each winter in San Francisco. I've had the pleasure of attending the ZAP (Zinfandel Advocates & Producers ) tasting before and I have a few words of advice: pace yourself, take advantage of the bread and water, and learn to spit. The festival and surrounding events allow you to really sink into the pleasures of a single varietal as expressed by vineyards throughout the state. The variety of red Zinfandel wines is dizzying at first (and also later after a few rounds of tasting) but its an amazing experience and a chance to meet many of the producers behind some of your favorite Zinfandels.

The 19th Annual Zinfandel Advocates & Producers Festival takes place January 28-30, 2010 and will headline chef Beverly Gannon, the proprietor of Maui's Hali`imaile General Store and one of the most well-known chefs in Hawaii. She will develop the menu for Dinner With The Winemakers as well as prepare a signature Hawaiian dish for Good Eats & Zinfandel Pairing. The theme for this year's event is Zin in Paradise.

The Good Eats & Zinfandel Pairing takes place on January 28, 6:00 – 9:00 p.m. at Fort Mason Center and approximately 50 restaurants will pair with wineries. Chef Gannon will be preparing her signature crab cannelloni with saffron cream sauce and Joe's favorite meatloaf with Hawaiian sweetbread roll from the Hali'imaile General Store. Tickets for non-ZAP members are $125; for ZAP members, $95.

Flights: A Showcase of Zinfandels, a seated tasting with in-depth seminars focusing on limited-production Zinfandels, takes place on January 29 from 10:30 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. Tickets for non-ZAP members are $80; for ZAP members, $65. Flights will focus on the history and heritage of Zinfandel, also delving into the latest Zinfandel trends and the timely topic on the art of blending. A buffet lunch will follow the tasting.

Evening With The Winemakers: A Benefit Live Auction & Dinner, takes place on January 29 Tickets are $260 for non-members and $210 for ZAP members, available only in advance and not at the door. The reception will include the opportunity to taste, for the first time, the 2008 Heritage Vineyard Zinfandel (made from ZAP's experimental vineyard by Tom Mackey of St. Francis Vineyards & Winery). Chef Gannon's dinner menu for Evening With The Winemakers will consist of Asian duck tostada; blackened Ahi With sweet Thai chili sauce, wasabi micro greens, tobiko, mashed potato In filo cup; smoked salmon pinwheels With chipotle-chili fresh fruit salsa; Kalua pork And goat cheese won-tons with mango chili sauce; terrine of foie gras, BBQ eel, potato pineapple compote, vanilla syrup and spicy micro-greens; lamb shank cannelloni with a poached fig demi-glaze double-cut lamb chop, lavender honey glazed baby carrots and chocolate macadamia nut tart.

Finally the 19th Annual Grand Zinfandel Tasting takes place on January 30 from 2:00 until 5:00 p.m. at the Festival and Herbst Pavilions at Fort Mason Tickets for non-ZAP members are $59 ($69 at the door); for ZAP members, $49. Over 200 wineries will pour their wines. Each attendee receives a commemorative wineglass (to use and keep) as well as a baguette upon entering (trust me, you'll need it). Water, coffee, cheeses, breads and fruits are available throughout the two pavilions of wine booths which are arranged alphabetically.

A ticket to all four events for a ZAP member is $419; for a non-member, $524. A VIP package (for 2) is available at $995-this consists of tickets to all events plus a number of additional benefits including a bottle of The Heritage Vineyard Zinfandel.

We are giving away two pairs of tickets to the 19th Annual Zinfandel Advocates & Producers Tasting on Saturday, January 30 at Ft. Mason.

To win leave a comment on your favorite red Zinfandel. Two winners will be chosen at random (21+ only).

Some other important details:

* To enter, leave a confirmed comment below.
* The comment must be left and confirmed before Friday, January 22, 2010 at 5:00PM Eastern Time.
* You may only enter once.
* Two winners will be selected in a random drawing.
* Two winners will each receive a pair of tickets to the ZAP Festival Tasting on January 30 at Fort Mason in San Francisco. Total value of the tickets is $118. Tickets can be picked up at the press/registration table at the entrance.
* Transportation to/from the ZAP Festival is NOT included in the prize.
* Please only enter if you know you can make it to the event.
* Open to legal residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia who are 21 and older (keep reading for the rest of the rules).

This contest is now closed. Thank you for your participation.

When quality meets affordability in a wine that also speaks to your heart, I would say that is a win-win! The White Rocket Wine Company's Dog House line featuring California grown Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Grigio, Zinfandel and Chardonnay supports Guide Dogs for the Blind by donating fifty-cents of each bottle purchased to their life changing programs. Not only do you get to enjoy your wine but you can improve the quality of life for many blind and visually impaired individuals across the country.

Guide Dogs for the Blind is a charitable organization that does not benefit from any government funding and therefore relies on donations to provide free guide dogs and training to those in need. Since Dog House Wines pledged their support for the non-profit, over $214,000 have been donated to its cause. Not only are Dog House Wines champions in terms of philanthropic giving but the wines have also earned over sixty individual awards making this brand a worthy selection for anyone... plus, who could resist that adorable dog on the label!

Wine goddess and author Natalie MacLean has made her picks for wines for this year's Thanksgiving feast. MacLean, the author of the book Red, White and Drunk All Over: A Wine-Soaked Journey from Grape to Glass also has some simple rules for Thanksgiving wine pairing:

Starting off with a Champagne, Prosecco or other sparkling wine sets a festive note and makes a great aperitif.

Red wine or white wine with the turkey? You can do either. A crisp white like a Riesling or Pinot Grigio works but a juicy red like a Zinfandel also works well (it sort of mimics the berry note of the cranberry sauce). You can also go for the practically fruit juice appeal of this year's Beaujolais Nouveau.

You can also match your wine to the sides, offering other wines such as a buttery Chardonnay to complement the stuffing and veggies or a Sauvignon Blanc to add a little pep to a palate numbed by too many cream sauces. .

She suggests a late harvest wine or ice wine to pair with dessert to add the perfect finishing touch. In my experience, I have found that a Port or a late harvest Zinfandel works well with pecan pie while a late harvest Chardonnay can work with pumpkin pie.

After the jump, her top picks for reds and whites for the table.

Oh how I wish I were headed to Napa this weekend. If you need to chase away your income-tax-paying blues, Judd's Hill Winery just might be the place. On Saturday, April 14 they are holding the First Annual Judd's Hill Musical Bonanza, from noon until 4:00 p.m. The event celebrates the release of their 2005 Old Vine Zinfandel and Judd's band, The Maikai Gents Featuring The Mysterious Miss Mauna Loa, will perform as well as a variety of other bands including the tropical rock band APE and King Kukulele from Los Angeles, a comedic ukulele player. A barbecue feast will be served and all of the winery's current releases are available for sale and for tasting. A few hours and those nasty tax forms will be a distant memory. Tickets are $85 ($70 for Judd's Wine Club members).

Recent studies discovered that NASCAR fans are into wine, and the same can be said of Harley Davidson owners, hence a new wine aiming at the Harley fan demographic. The V-Twin Zin from the V-Twin Vineyards in Sonoma is a wine for the motorcycle lifestyle. The 2004 estate vineyard Zinfandel is sourced from a vineyard in the Dry Creek Valley in Sonoma County, Calif., and has a label decorated with skulls and a flaming V-twin engine. The company also have a member gallery on its website for biker pictures. Other releases planned are the River Run Chardonnay, Poker Run Cabernet, Redwood Run Zinfandel and the Toy Run Rose. The 2004 V-Twin Zin sells for $24 per bottle.

If you are itching to have the same experience I had last January in San Francisco, the sensory overload of submerging yourself in a tasting of Zinfandels, the ZAP crew is taking their act on the road. This spring will find the Zinfandel Advocates & Producers traveling to Austin, Texas, Phoenix, Arizona and Minneapolis, Minnesota for Grand Tasting events to bring Zin love to the masses with tastings on May 8 in Austin, May 10 at the Wrigley Mansion in Phoenix and as part of Winefest No. 12-A Toast To Children's Health in Minneapolis on May 11-12. Details and prices for each tasting are available at the ZAP website.

As a devoted wine consumer, I looked at the experience to taste Zinfandels at the ZAP festival with both excitement and apprehension. It's one thing to taste a few wines in an evening, it's quite another to spend a beautiful San Francisco morning tasting nothing but Zinfandels. It's a curious thing to taste that many wines. I set up shop at a table where I there was another taster and, after a short while, he said to me with a weary expression that he was getting tired and he was only ten wines in.

I would highly recommend attending ZAP next year for anyone who really wants to learn more about their likes and dislikes in wine. There is something about tasting only in one grape and a narrow range of vintages that distills wine to its essence. It is in that sameness that the differences start to appear. As an amateur taster I have often struggled to find some of the tastes in a wine that are listed on the bottle but tasting in this manner really makes the more subtle flavors come clear. While I was tasting, I also had a conversation with one of the volunteers about the fact that the press area didn't have a lot of women (although there were plenty of women down on the main floor both tasting and pouring).

After the jump, my notes on the Zinfandels I tasted (my late harvests and port-style notes will be a separate post). I rated them on an A,B,C scale. A wines are the ones where it seriously pained me to have to spit them out. B wines are the ones I would happily take to a dinner party or serve at home and they tended to be the type of wine that I generally associate with Zinfandel, spicy, robust and a touch over the top. The C wines are wines that I wouldn't go out of my way to find. My tastes run toward the fruit bombs rather than overly tannic wines.

I had been told the ZAP festival in San Francisco is a wine event like no other, a raucous and intense experience. I was eager to have the chance to see 237 Zinfandel producers showing off their best wines in two pavillions. I wasn't alone. The picture above captures the line at around 9:45 am Saturday morning. Nothing like starting off the day with a glass or two or twenty of Zinfandel. I'll be listing the Zins I tasted later but first here's a quick tour around the event.

Never let it be said I am neglecting my wine education. This week I will be heading north to attend not one but two wine-themed events. First up, the Unifed Grape Symposium in Sacramento and a chance to learn more about challenges and opportunities facing vineyards. I am looking to peeking behind the curtain a bit to learn more about the magic of wine. And will report back with the latest wine industry news.

Next up, ZAP, the annual Zinfandel tasting in San Francisco that causes thousands to converge to taste Zinfandel after Zinfandel. The massive Saturday tasting costs $60. It will be a bit of a marathon, tasting around 100 wines in one afternoon. I'll be following the sage advice of Alder over at Vinography and planning my attack wisely and remembering to sip well and spit often. Hope to see you there.

I have a confession, I have been known to choose a bottle of wine based solely on the cuteness of the bottle. Often I pay for this crime with a big old glass of swill. Not so with the Seven Deadly Zins. Sure, it was the wit of the label with the cute listing of the seven "deadly zins" that first got my attention but the seven zins mentioned actually refer to the seven Lodi growers who contributed their old vine zinfandel grapes to this blend. The wine is made from grapes whose vines which are on average around 50 years old and the result is a rich wine with blackberry and cherry fruit flavors and a strong peppery note. It can generally be found for around $14 per bottle making it a lovely inexpensive option.

Tickets just went on sale for the 16th Annual Zinfandel Advocates & Producers Festival which will take place January 24-27, 2007 at Fort Mason Center in San Francisco, California. The event includes a showcase of California Zinfandel wine flights, walk-around wine and food tastings, but the showcase event is the Evening with the Winemakers Benefit Auction and Dinner at The Fairmont Hotel. The reception will include a taste of the 2003 Heritage Vineyard Zinfandel, made by Bill Knuttel of Dry Creek Vineyard, an auction and then dinner. Tickets are $200 for ZAP members and $250 for non-members and must be purchased in advance. The Heritage vineyard is a collection of rare and famous Zinfandel vine cuttings grown throughout California. The Heritage Vineyard Zinfandel therefore represents a sort of quaffable museum and can only be purchased at this event. Other events during the festival cost around $100.

If you like Zinfandel then you should know about Zin Alley, a small winery in Templeton, California. They specialize in Red Zinfandel and Zinfandel port. They do not ship to stores and their wine is only available in restaurants in the Paso Robles area. They are happy to sell to individuals and people who have made the trek to the winery rave about the experience. The Red Zinfandel sells for $42 and the Port costs $40.