Zinfandel or Primitivo

Dee wrote on Sat, 12 Dec 2009 09:55:09 -0500:

I'm not a great admirer of Zinfandel but I believe it and Primitivo have a common ancestor in some Croatian variety. I'll have to let experts opine upon how accurate is what I have read.

"Dee Dovey" skrev i melding news:hg0asa$4qe$ snipped-for-privacy@news.eternal-september.org...

Hard to say - the winemaking style is different and therefore you can't say it is only the grape that is the reason for the preference. It would be interesting to compare Californian Zins and Californian Primitivos if there are any?

Anders

I am not an expert but IIRC those who are experts say that the Zinfandel and Primitivo are the same variety - in the sense that they have the same sexual parents. The relationship between each other and the Croatian grape is one of genetic mutation. I am not sure if that makes the Croatian grape an ancestor or not.

And, while we're at it, that's the name of the Croation grape variety: Crljenak Kastelanski (diacritic ommitted: the first s carries a ^ upside-down, apparently called "caron").

M.

This is a pretty good snapshot guide to the relationship.

Dee, Having tasted many a Zinfandel and a few Primitivos, I can say that, while there is some resemblance, the differences in the two wines are pretty striking. I doubt that many people given a Primitivo would instantly think "Zinfandel." OTOH, some CA growers have planted Primitivo and made wine from it, and it does produce a slightly different wine, but not nearly as pronounced as the differences exhibited by Italian Primitivos. So, why the differences? Winemaking? Sure. Terroir? Almost certainly.

Mark Lipton

Thanks, Mark for a good explanation for me. As I actually prefer Italian wines, it's not going to be hard for me to pass up CA zinfandels and look for more primitivos. Dee Dee

Earlier this year I drank a couple of bottles of Primitivo, from Sicily, and the nose was strongly metallic. This, apparently, is typical of the variety. Has anyone here experienced that in a Zin? Graham

To be honest, and despite being italian, I have never tasted a Primitivo that impressed me, whereas my small experience of Zinfandel shows promise (Ridge mainly).

Thanks, Mike, I'll give Ridge a try as well. Dee Dee