Its hard to find Zinfandel in this country. I am normally spoilt as friends of mine love Ridge Califoria Lytton Springs which is big, strong, spicy and delicious (they practically have the stuff on tap when you visit). It will happily knock quite a hole in your pocket, not mine in this case. I am just a parasite in their house, greedily slurping down their life blood, and providing a lesser bottle in return as a gift.

What is Zinfandel anyway?

It's a grape with mysterious origins which have recently been somewhat ironed out with DNA fingerprinting. It turns out that the Zinfandel grape (USA,) and Primitivo (Italy) are clones of Crljenak Kastelanski (Croatia). European producers can label Primitivo as Zinfandel and even ship it thus labelled to the USA. Whereas there is no such labelling interchangeability allowed for producers in the USA.

A major price advantage can be gained replacing the words Primitivo with Zinfandel.

To the bottle in hand. It's the one I always seem to come across when in Waitrose as it appeals as a cheaper quaffable red Zinfandel almost hidden in a forest of other grape varieties and terroirs. The bottle shape looks as if someone has slightly pulled the neck of a high shouldered Bordeaux bottle, giving it a slight stretch.

The cork is an odd one. A two part synthetic cork, like an Elastoplast wrapped around a sponge. Unpleasant to look at and pull, but apparently a better alternative to the more solid one part synthetic corks.

A quirky label looks like a like a tattoo template with three Ravens in an eternal circular embrace. It draws you in, giving you the impression of a unique independent wine maker with dark mysterious intentions.

Digging a bit deeper it turns out that the founder, Joel Peterson, sold the business to Constellation Brands (apparently the largest wine company in the world), while still keeping the winery under his control.

So can this now 'big brand' ownership deliver a good Zinfandel at a reasonable price?

Firstly I have to remove the Ridge Califoria Lytton Springs from my mind as it is a completely different class of drink, as reflected in the price.

Ravenswood Vintners Blend Zinfandel 2007 is really good value (I even managed to get it on offer). It is surprisingly light and quaffable, and delivers that rich spicy Zinfandel fix at the same time.

I will try and find a bottle of Primitivo and compare, to see if I can spot the similarities in the cloned grapes.

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