One of the greatest joys of wine tasting lies in the variety of experience. One wine, however, you will never see there: White Zinfandel.
White Zinfandel was created in the 1970s to satisfy the sweet tooths of Americans and quickly became extremely popular, especially among those pride themselves on not being "wine drinkers". It is made by quickly extracting all the sugary juice from the robust (and very red) Zinfandel grape and then discarding all the pulp and skin which contain the actual flavors, resulting in a pink beverage with low alcohol and less taste. There is much debate over whether to consider it a real wine or not. Frankly, this is beside the point. No self-respecting wine shop will carry White Zinfandel because it has no unique traits and no character. It is hard to recommend such a wine to customers. The same applies to elegant restaurants, because it does not pair well with any fine cuisine. (Wine lists are generally tailored to the menu.)
This is not to belittle those who enjoy the beverage. However, do not expect to find it at a wine tasting, and do not get upset if your server says, "I'm sorry, we don't serve White Zinfandel". If sweet is your thing, there are a number of equally sweet (possibly sweeter) wines that do not carry a stigma, such as Moscato, Semillon, and many Rieslings.
Comments