The mysteries surrounding
Primitivo and Zinfandel are slowly being resolved. At first, 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 (two names); Crljenak Kasĵtelanski or
Tribidrag. Primitivo is the name
commonly used for the selection of Crljenak grown in the Puglia region of
southeastern Italy. Zinfandel is the
name used for the selection of Crljenak vines grown in California.
In the vineyard, I
can count on two distinctions. First is
that true to its name, Primitivo ripens first.
Often by as much as a week to ten days.
In the sixteen 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 contribute 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 biologically 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 for Primitivo. Once we measure the sugar content of the
grapes at harvest, we can accurately predict the alcohol in the wine without
any surprises.
