Ep 591: Grape Mini Series - The Zinfandel Refresh

Wine for Normal People

Arts, Food

4.6 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 14 January 2026

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

After 14 years, I felt like it was probably time to do another show on Zinfandel! Known as America's heritage grape, the story of the quest for its European origins is like a mystery novel with an interesting end. It is a great grape and so historic!

Photo: Frank Schulenburg, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

In this show I cover the massive history of the grape and the unbelievable decades-long search for its origins, which were finally discovered after a dogged group of researchers did a painstaking investigation.

I move on to discuss the vineyard and winemaking. Much of the information I got was from one of the kings of Zinfandel in the Dry Creek Valley of Sonoma, Fred Peterson of Peterson Winery. Fred started his career in wine working under the very famed Paul Draper at Ridge, before starting his own winery. Fred has been making Zinfandel for more than 50 years. His estate vineyard is outside his front door and has Zin in it. He sources from other vineyards, and makes low intervention, excellent Zinfandel in different styles. I share all the wisdom I got from my conversation with him, including the stylistic differences in winemaking and vineyard management and how that shows up in the wine.

Check out Peterson Winery!

After discussing the grape and cellar, I talk about flavors, styles and where the grape is grown. I end with a disucssion of serving temperatures, aging, and food pairing (Zin is so versatile!).

You can call it Zinfandel, Primitivo, Tribidrag, Pribidrag, or Crjenak Kaštelanski, but whatever the name, I wish more people were into Zinfandel. It's such a storied and truly great grape.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Wine for Normal People, the podcast for people who like wine, but not the snobbery that goes with it.
0:15.7	I'm your host Elizabeth Schneider, author of the Wine for Normal People book and certified wine dork.
0:21.2	This podcast is brought to you by Wine Access.
0:24.6	Go to wineaccess.com slash WFNP to browse their incredible selection of wines from all around the world.
0:34.0	Check it out today, wineaccess.com slash WFNMP. And if you want to join my wine club where you get
0:40.9	six bottles quarterly for $150, go to wine access.com slash normal. Listen in the middle of the show for more
0:48.1	details. First grape mini series of the year, and it's not as if I haven't done Zimfandel before, but it was in
0:57.3	2012. So I think I have a little bit more information. I've been to Croatia, which is,
1:04.6	spoiler alert, the home of this grape. I have lots more friends in the wine industry,
1:10.3	and I was able to draw on the
1:12.7	unbelievable knowledge of Fred Peterson of Peterson Winery in Dry Creek Valley, especially
1:18.5	for the vineyard winery and some of the history piece of this podcast. So it is greatly enriched,
1:24.9	and I'm going to encourage you to check out Peterson Winery in the Dry Creek Valley and check out their Zimphindels because
1:31.7	they make a number of them and I'm going to be bringing them up later on in the show.
1:35.9	Before we get to that, you know, I always have to thank the patrons who have joined for a year.
1:41.3	They really do make this podcast go. I could not do the show without the patrons.
1:47.9	I like to say the names and have everybody hear the names of the people that are responsible for
1:53.0	keeping this show going. They are responsible for what you're listening to right now. Without them,
1:56.9	I couldn't do the show. Still catching up. I'm not going to get everybody. Please listen for your name
2:01.5	if you are new to the show. So if you joined in December, perk your ears up. Kita E. Holly C. Robin R.
2:10.7	Chris M. Michael M. Caroline A. Jocelyn B. Connie C. Justin C. Risa L.A. Laura, Eric L. L.A. L. L.A. L. L. L.A. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L. L, just direct message me on Patreon because I will get
2:35.5	back to you right away. Patrons are my number one priority. And also don't forget, if you're a
	...

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