The mysteries surrounding
Primitivo and Zinfandel are for the most part resolved. In the beginning of the Zinfandel Primitivo
controversy, genetic testing couldn’t distinguish between the two grapes, but
did this mean that they were the same?
Or perhaps the analysis lacked the precision to illuminate a
difference? Today it is generally accepted
that Primitivo and Zinfandel are both genetically equivalent to the Croatian
variety Tribidrag. Primitivo is the name
commonly used for the selection of Tribidrag grown in the Puglia region of
southeastern Italy. Zinfandel is the
name used for the selection of Tribidrag vines grown in California.
In the vineyard, I
can count on two distinctions between Primitivo and Zinfandel. First is that true to its name, Primitivo
ripens first. Often by as much as a week
to ten days. In the twenty-four years we
have produced both wines only in the frost ravaged 2011 vintage did we harvest
Zinfandel before Primitivo. The second
distinction is that the downy tomentum on the underside of the Zinfandel leaf
is absent from the Primitivo. I suspect
that the parasitic Willamette and Pacific spider mites that often call the
tomentum home may be a parasitic handicap that contributes to the delayed
ripening of the Zinfandel.
In the winery we have
come to recognize a third distinction and that is that Primitivo doesn’t ‘hide’
its sugar level like Zinfandel.
Zinfandel berries have a tendency to shrivel and start to dry as they
ripen. The result is that when we
measure the sugar content of the grapes, we get an understated reading. It is not uncommon for us to get an alcohol
level in the resulting wine that far exceeds what is physically possible given
the level of sugar we measured at harvest.
This makes Zinfandel tricky to produce because the final alcohol level
is unpredictable. This is not the case with
Primitivo. When we measure the sugar
content of the Primitivo grapes at harvest we can accurately predict the
alcohol in the wine.
Over time the
wines made from the Primitivo grape have more restraint with juicier red
fruits, lower alcohol levels, and more elegant tannins than the beefier
Zinfandel. The flavor profiles are
similar, but it seems the Zinfandel just seems to have a bit more
stuffing. Sometimes I find myself
describing Primitivo as Zinfandel with ‘training wheels.’
