Well, last time I posted I was discussing a few of the grape types I love and some of the reasons why. This year my company, Everybody Happy Wine Company, will be working with a few different vineyards and I begin the documentation of a grape varietal that is near and dear to my heart … Zinfandel. Now you’re going to need to bare with me a second, this might get a little sappy and I hope not too long winded.
I was raised in Salem, Oregon; known more for being where the witch trials weren’t but where everybody thought they were rather than being the capital of one of the coolest (if not the) coolest states in the Union (Go Ducks!!). As I graduated HS I was not too different than many of my peers, in that I had no freaking clue what I wanted to do with my life (side bar I was so confused I joined the National Guard briefly). I was prepared to go to the University of Oregon, major in Business and have no clue what I wanted to do with my life after college much like after High School. Enter Edward Keith, my Grandfather, a man known more for his experience in the real estate business then in the grape growing business but to me the most influential man in my life with regards to getting into this great industry. Gramps saw that I was lacking a bit of direction and encouraged me to move to Napa and live with him, go to the local junior college and see if the wine industry was something I could dig my teeth into (for brevity I’ll just say it was and not get into all the particulars). Now Grampa had a spirit that to this day lives through and within all of his descendants, and ask any one of us what his favorite phrase was and you’ll get the answer, “Is EVERYBODY HAPPY?!!” Yes, capitilization was necessary there, the man’s spirit and enthusiasm could not be contained, and so if anyone was wondering where the name of my wine company came from, you now know (uhh thank you HBMN).
Now to the part where Zinfandel comes into play, well he owned a little bit of vineyard out in the Chiles Valley region of the Napa Valley where some of the greatest Zinfandel wines made reside (Green and Red Vineyards, Brown Estate, Leaf and Vine *wink). It’s in this rugged region of the Napa Valley that I learned not only the hard work it takes to grow grapes and make wine, but the fabulous eccentricites of the varietal Zinfandel. It’s thin skinned, which makes it sensitive to rot; on a single cluster you can have under-ripe, ripe, and over-ripe fruit all at once, not even to get into its qualities on old vines grown in hot regions (I could go on, really I could). Well this wine was my Grandfather’s passion, and basically the only thing he drank (the occasional Sauv. Blanc.). Suffice to say that even before I was 21 I started to refine a bit of a palate for Zinfandel (don’t judge), and even now after making numerous vintages I still develop a new style and some fun (or borderline nutty) way to make it year in and year in and year out, and that’s really another reason that makes it such an intriguing varietal for me, I can be a bit eccentric and make Zinfandel, it’s expected.
So enjoy the last two videos, the first one is a bit long but some good stuff there, the second one is a little more refined (I think I’m getting better at this), and on Tuesday after I get back from Tennessee and watching the Oregon Ducks blast the volunteers (yes I’m taking a frivolous vacay during harvest), I’ll post the third part of this series where I promise I’ll talk about the vineyard itself a little more.
Thanks, and see you on Tuesday; however if anyone reads this and they’re in the Napa Valley tonight I will be at the Cordair Art Gallery and there will be the Leaf and Vine Zinfandel ready to be enjoyed (9/9/10)
Cheers,
TK