DRINK DIFFERENT - IT’S NOT A ZIN TO LOOK OUTSIDE CALIFORNIA

Zinfandel is an increasingly popular grape from California, making big, blockbuster wines with bags of blackberry fruit and great structure – ideal wines to warm you up on bonfire night.  The Americans have claimed this grape as their own, and the cost often reflects this supposed exclusivity: the best Zins can have three-figure price labels.

What the Californians don’t want you to know is that Zinfandel is in fact genetically identical to the Italian Primitivo grape – and in southern Italy in particular, where the sunshine ripens the grapes to produce similar big-flavoured wines, there are great wines to be had for a fraction of the cost of a top US Zinfandel.

Look out for Primitivos from Puglia in the heel of Italy, and in particular from the sub-region of Salento, where constant sea breezes mirror the micro-climate of the Napa and Sonoma Valleys in California, and where the wines give Zinfandels a real run for their money.